Impossible
by xoxo Cherie
Summary: Austin suddenly has to face the idea of sharing Ally with someone else. Not just any someone else, but Elliot, her old friend from camp. And while it doesn't seem like a huge deal, there's something about having to share his partner/best friend that doesn't sit well with him. But it's not because he's jealous. Nope. No way. Impossible.
1. Glue Guns & Glaring

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin &_ Ally.**

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What was so great about this guy? He liked crafts? And carried a glue gun around with him in his pocket? (Which, by the way, seemed pretty dangerous, in Austin's opinion.)

Austin watched from a table in the mall's food court, furiously sipping his drink through a straw as he watched Ally and _Elliot_ laughing at the counter of Mini's. He hadn't noticed but his gaze was so intense it probably could've made Elliot spontaneously burst into flames.

Why was Ally laughing like that? And smiling like that? And was she blushing? He's never seen her act this way before. Even when she'd had that crush on Dallas, she didn't act like this. Ally had constantly embarrassed herself and acted so awkward she could hardly hold a conversation with him. But now? She was catching up with _Elliot_ like they were old friends (which they were).

_Elliot._ What kind of dumb name was _Elliot?_

Austin continued to suck on his straw even though there was only ice left rattling inside of his cup. For the past ten minutes he'd been glaring like there was no tomorrow, and nothing had diverted his attention. Not even his own _girlfriend_, who was sitting across the table from him.

"Austin? Hello? Austin?" Kira waved a hand in front of his face, trying to snap him out of his angry glare. Finally, after several frantic waves, he blinked and Kira's face came into focus.

"What?"

Kira leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "I've been trying to talk to you and you've been spaced out this whole time. Actually, this whole week you haven't been acting like yourself."

Austin set his cup on the table and sighed "Sorry, Kira. I've just been really distracted lately," he said, combing his fingers through his unruly blond hair. "It's like my mind has been somewhere else."

She gave him a worried look. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

He shrugged, thinking back on the past week. "No, nothing's changed…" His schedule for the week had been as normal as ever: school, homework, Team Austin meetings, performances at the mall, etc. So what was it that was throwing him off so suddenly?

Hearing laughter coming from the counter of Mini's again, he glanced back toward Ally and _Elliot _(just thinking his name made him irritated). They were still laughing and talking, except now they were playfully bumping shoulders with each other. Austin narrowed his eyes as their shoulders touched, and then he realized what had changed. Elliot had arrived exactly a week ago. Ally had insisted on showing him around Miami, so Austin-and-Ally time had been cut back for the past week. He knew there was a reason why he didn't like that kid.

"Actually," he started, not dropping his gaze from the pair, "I haven't been doing any songwriting lately. Ally's been kind of busy." He was caught off guard by how bitter his voice sounded.

"Oh," Kira turned her head and followed Austin's line of vision, catching a glimpse of Ally throwing her head back and giggling at something Elliot had said. Austin's eyes narrowed even further. "They look like they're having a good time," she mentioned lightly, "I bet you guys could work on your music a little later."

He wasn't about to admit it, but Austin didn't want to wait until later, and he especially didn't want to wait for Ally while she was hanging out with _Elliot. _His lips morphed into a pout as the thought crossed his mind. It had never occurred to him before, but Austin had never really shared Ally with anyone else before. Sure she was friends with Trish and Dez too, but this was different. Now, Austin had to share Ally with some other, non-mutual friend. Not just that, but a non-mutual friend that also happened to be a _guy_. And from the looks of it, Elliot didn't want to just stay friends.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing. He subconsciously started to pat at the pockets of his jeans before he realized it wasn't his phone that was ringing.

"Hello?" Kira spoke into her cell phone. After saying "yes" several times into the receiver, she hung up before rising from her seat.

Finally, Austin's attention was completely pulled away from Ally and Elliot.

"Are you leaving?" he asked, getting up too.

Kira shouldered her purse, slipping her phone into the pocket of her jacket. "Yeah, that was one of my friends. I forgot to mention that I have to go work on a project today. Sorry."

Austin shrugged his shoulders. "It's cool."

"How about we hang out tomorrow after school?"

For the first time since he sat down, Austin gave a genuine smile. "Yeah, definitely."

"Great." Kira leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before waving goodbye and walking out of the food court.

Austin watched her retreating figure, when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Elliot leaning over closer to Ally and whispering something into her ear. He also watched as Ally's cheeks flushed slightly before she playfully whacked him on the shoulder and began grinning again.

He pushed down the sudden boiling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Seriously, what was so special about this guy? He wasn't even that good looking. Did he have hair that flopped just the right way? Did he have kind eyes? Did he have the same name as a city in Texas? No, no, and a big fat no. Not to mention he also wasn't her internet-sensation-turned-popstar-and-songwriting-partner-best-friend. Nope.

As Austin made a mental checklist of all the things that was wrong with Elliot (An orange T-shirt? Why would anyone want to wear orange?), not once did it cross his mind that he might possibly be even a little bit jealous. Austin Moon? Jealous? Of some random guy that wears orange? That's ridiculous! Impossible! At least that's what he tried to convince himself. Besides, there was _nothing_ to be jealous about.

Not the fact that Ally and Elliot were sitting so close together, or the fact that they were totally at ease making conversation with each other without any awkwardness, or the fact that they kept on laughing together, or the fact that he just pushed a lock of hair behind Ally's ear, or-

Nope, nothing to be jealous of at all.

Straightening his collar and running his fingers through his hair one more time, Austin made his way over to Mini's. It was time to officially introduce himself to _Elliot._

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**AN: Hello _Austin & Ally _fandom! I'm usually over in the Books section writing Percy Jackson fics, but this show has quickly become a guilty pleasure of mine and I couldn't resist writing something about it.**

**Something you guys should keep in mind: when I was writing this, the character stories for Elliot and Kira are what I found while digging through tumblr and the internet, so they will be characters in the show eventually (apparently, Elliot will be introduced in the episode _Campers & Complications). _****So, in case any of you were severely confused while reading, this is just a heads up. **

**On another note, I really like this show! I still have a few other ideas, so this won't be the last you see of me writing for _Austin & Ally_. Tell me what you guys think!**

**I hope you liked it! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	2. Sunscreen & Still the Same

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin &__ Ally._**

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The last time Ally saw Elliot was two years ago. And, boy, were those two years kind to him. The lanky fourteen-year-old she had first made friends with at that arts and crafts camp two summers ago had grown up. Taller, tanner, and the braces that used to be attached to his teeth were gone too. However, she was glad to see that his blue-eyed gaze hadn't changed in the time they'd been apart. Maybe he looked different, but he was still her craft-crazy, slightly dorky friend from camp.

Thinking back, she realized that maybe she had changed too. She had traded her glasses for contacts, her wardrobe was considerably more colorful, and she had even been brave enough to highlight some of her hair. Of course, on the inside, she was still awkward, fumbling Ally Dawson. It made her happy to think that, despite growing up, they were still both the same people as when they had first met.

Elliot had been enthusiastically filling her in on the past few years. As she listened to him intently, laughing at some of the embarrassing situations he had gotten himself into, she noticed that his nose still scrunched the same way it did at camp when he laughed. Yup. Maybe taller and tanner, but still the same.

"I went to Los Angeles with my family for summer vacation last year, and we were at the beach, but you remember how much I don't like sand, right?"

"How could I forget? When we were sand painting at camp, you tripped and spilled it all over yourself!" Ally giggled at the memory. You had sand in your clothes and shoes, on your hair; some even got into your nose so you kept sneezing all day

Elliot gave her a small pout. "It wasn't _that_ funny."

Ally halfheartedly tried to stifle her laughter. "You're right. Not funny at all." But she couldn't hide a smile from slipping onto her lips.

He finally relented and let out a chuckle too. "Anyways, we were at the beach and I really didn't want to run around and get sand everywhere, so I was reading on one of the chairs, but I fell asleep. When I woke up, I looked like a lobster!"

Ally didn't bother to hold in her laugh this time. She tried to imagine Elliot with a sunburnt, tomato-red face, and the peals of laughter escaped from her throat faster.

"You fell asleep?" she asked around her giggles.

"Yeah, and the worst part is, I fell asleep with the book on me so I had a really weird tan line that lasted for the rest of summer." He pointed to his chest animatedly, trying to emphasize.

Once her laughter subsided, Ally spoke up again. "You didn't put on sunscreen?"

"I did, but I guess it wasn't strong enough. I didn't have your SPF 100 like at camp." He grinned as he reminded her of her superfluous sun protection plan.

"Hey," she said, bumping her shoulder into his, "I burn really easily! Do you know how hard it is to be a naturally pale person living in Miami? "

Elliot bumped his shoulder against hers, "Yeah, but did you really need three different types of sunscreen? And a separate lip balm? And a hat? And a sunblock application schedule?"

His face inched closer and closer to her as he listed off the different items, and she blushed slightly at his teasing, but also at the sudden proximity. Recovering from the flustered feeling, she rolled her eyes before whacking him in the arm.

"Yes, it was absolutely necessary! And look," she stretched out her bare arms, "not sunburnt one bit. See?"

This time Elliot rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Ally-Cat."

She smiled at the old nickname before grabbing a mini French fry off of her plate.

For the past week she'd had a lot more fun than she'd had in a while if she was completely honest with herself. While it was fun hanging out with Team Austin too, recently she'd felt like she needed some space, especially ever since Austin and Kira began dating. It's not that she didn't like Kira. No, she was incredibly nice, and pretty, and funny. But she was also Austin's girlfriend. And if Ally was _still_ being completely honest with herself, it kind of crushed her a little bit every time she saw the two of them together because, if she was _really_ being completely honest with herself, she liked Austin. A lot. But she wasn't about to jeopardize his relationship with Kira. Especially when it made him so happy.

So when Elliot had randomly emailed her last week, telling her he'd be spending his spring break in Miami, she jumped at the chance to show him around and hang out with her old friend… and get away from Austin and Kira. But being with Elliot again made her forget about Austin and her immensely annoying feelings. He'd been catching her up to everything he'd been doing for the past few years.

She'd learned that he was on the swim team (which she found funny because he didn't even know how to swim when they were at camp together, he was treasurer of his school's student government (which she thought was pretty fitting since he'd always loved math), and his family had adopted a new kitten and they'd named it Sylvester after the Looney Tunes character (which she could see how excited about he was because he'd always been a cat person). Spending time with Elliot was a welcome distraction. Then again, she couldn't help feeling slightly guilty about having to cancel on Austin-and-Ally time to hang out with him.

"So," Elliot started up again, "how have you been? I feel like I've only been talking about myself for the past week. Tell me what you've been up to."

Ally shrugged her petite shoulders. "This and that. Nothing special."

He raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. "_Nothing special?_ Are you saying being Austin Moon's songwriter, having your songs produced on an album, and appearing on the cover of Cheetah Beat is _nothing special?_"

Her mouth opened and closed several times before settling on something to say. "H-how did you know-"

Elliot laughed as he stole a fry from her plate. He popped it into his mouth before saying, "I live in Massachusetts, not Mars. Word gets around, especially when it's about one of your old friends." He smiled at her. "But I'm so happy for you, Ally! I listened to Austin's album and it was really good! I can't believe you're the one that wrote all those songs for him."

Ally blushed again at the compliment. "Thanks, Elliot."

"So what's it like working with him?"

"Austin? He can be pretty crazy. Sometimes it's like he's bouncing off the walls, but he works really hard and he's super talented." She glanced back over to where he was talking with Kira at a table. "And he's genuinely a really sweet guy," she said, not taking her eyes from him. She tried to ignore the slight pang in her chest at seeing him with Kira. "A really great friend."

"Seems like you guys are pretty close."

Ally turned back to Elliot. "Yeah. I didn't really think we'd become friends in the beginning, but we started hanging out all the time, first to write songs, then at school and he's always at Sonic Boom." She reached for her drink, taking a sip.

Elliot nodded in response. "So, do you guys have, like… a thing?" he asked awkwardly.

Ally choked on her drink. After heaving a few coughs and trying to catch her breath, she met Elliot's worried gaze. _"What?"_

He ignored her question, suddenly concerned about her ability to breathe. "Oh, gosh, Ally, are you okay?"

She, in turn, ignored his question and proceeded to answer his first one. "Austin and I do _not_ have a _thing!_ We're just friends!"

"Oh. I just thought that maybe you guys liked each other. I mean, you said it yourself, you hang out all the time."

"Well yeah, but it's nothing like that. Like I said, just friends. See? He even has a girlfriend."

They both looked over to see Kira give Austin a kiss on the cheek before walking off. She ignored that panging feeling in her chest again.

"So, no thing?"

"Nope."

A small smile slipped onto his face. "Good."

Ally was about to ask why he said that, but a stray curl flew to the front of her face. Before she could do it herself, Elliot beat her to it and tucked it behind her ear. She blushed again when she felt his fingers brush against her cheek. She couldn't recall ever acting so flustered around him before. Then again, those two years _had_ been very kind to him. Maybe he was still the same on the inside, but, upon looking over Elliot again, she realized that her dorky friend from camp was _really_ cute.

She was about to say thank you when a mass of sandy blonde hair caught her eye. Someone had come to stand beside her. To be more precise, right between her and Elliot.

"'Sup. I thought I'd come over and officially introduce myself. I'm Austin Moon."

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**AN: Hello again, readers! Thanks for waiting so patiently and also thank you to everyone that read, reviewed, favorited, or followed this story! **

**Just wanted to let you guys know that I will probably be updating this story once a week. I have an idea of where the story is going, but I have absolutely no clue how long it's going to be, but I'll keep you posted!**

**So, I was kind of a tease in this chapter. I know you were expecting a confrontation between Austin and Elliot, but that'll just have to wait until next week! In the mean time, you got some background on Ally and Elliot. God, I can't wait until the actual Campers & Complications episode.**

**And speaking of episodes, Ferris Wheels & Funky Breath comes out tomorrow! But more importantly, did you guys see the promo for Girlfriends & Girl Friends? So excited!**

**I hope you like it! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	3. Introductions & Ignored Feelings

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

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_"'Sup. I thought I'd come over and officially introduce myself. I'm Austin Moon."_

Austin stuck his hand out to Elliot, not even attempting to disguise his unfriendliness.

"Hi! I'm Elliot." Elliot's voice was enthusiastic, like he was greeting an old friend. And totally unaware of Austin's unpleasant tone. "It's great to finally meet you! Ally was just telling me about how you guys have been working together." He shook the hand that was offered to him. Austin tried not to grip his hand so tightly, but he couldn't say he was trying very hard.

"Well, we don't just work together. We're _best friends_," he replied, putting emphasis on the last two words. To make his point clear, he brought one arm around Ally's shoulder and pulled her into his side.

"Uh, Austin," Ally began, confused by his strange behavior, "what are you doing?"

"I'm hanging out with my best friend! Duh," he replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "So," he started, trying to change the subject, "you said you were talking about us?" he asked Elliot.

"Yeah, I was just telling Ally how I listened to your whole album. Ally, your songwriting it amazing! I thought you were good two years ago, but, wow, you've gotten even better since then!"

Ally blushed again and this didn't go unnoticed by Austin.

"Two years ago? At camp? Oh, God, my writing was awful then! I still cringe every time I think about it."

"Are you kidding? That song you sang at the camp talent show was awesome!"

Austin interjected suddenly, the words that Elliot had just said piquing his interest. "You performed? At _camp?"_

Ally nodded. "Yeah, that was before my audition for MUNY. My friends convinced me to perform in the talent show. It was really stupid-"

"No, it wasn't," Elliot interrupted her. "You were incredible." His tone was genuine and he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. This also didn't go unnoticed by Austin. Neither did the more-than-just-a-friendly smile he gave her.

Ally smiled back. She was about to say thank you, when Austin took away her chance. "So, you watched Ally perform in front of an audience?"

"Yup. We got a keyboard and she sang one of her own songs. She would've won first place too if it weren't for that baton twirler."

"She deserved to win! The batons were on fire! And she was, like, seven years old!"

"I guess you could say I'm a little biased." Elliot shrugged, and then he looked at her hopefully. "You should perform again sometime. Maybe before I leave next week?"

An apologetic expression settled on Ally's features. She couldn't meet his eyes. "Sorry, Elliot, but I don't think I can."

He gave her a confused look. "Why not?"

"Because I have stage fright."

"What? But you were fine on stage two years ago."

"It's a long story. But I can't perform in front of people anymore. I always freak out. Didn't you see how I trashed the set of The Helen Show? It was all over the internet."

Elliot's eyes widened comically. "That was _you?_" Ally winced a little, but Elliot recovered quickly, trying to spare her feelings. "I mean, I'm so sorry, Ally. You're an amazing singer. That's such a shame."

Ally shrugged. "It's okay. It's not a big deal."

His expression was sad, but then it quickly morphed into a wide grin. "I guess you'll just have to give me a private show."

Austin, who had been pouting at the friendly exchange between the pair, finally spoke up. Maybe he could tolerate this guy as Ally's friend, but he wasn't about to let him spend even _more_ alone time with her. He convinced himself he was just trying to protect her. Sure, Elliot seemed like a normal, nice guy, but who knew what kind of person he was underneath the crafting and overenthusiastic giddiness?

"So, Elliot," he started, "do you sing?"

He chuckled in response. "No way. I'm a terrible singer. I'll leave that to the two of you." He continued to laugh before adding on, "I'm an even worse dancer."

Ally giggled too. "It's true. He's probably worse than I am."

"_What?_" Elliot exclaimed in mock-offense, putting his hand to his chest. "That hurts, Ally-cat."

"But it's true! Remember the end of summer party at camp? You knocked over the bowl of chips and hit Evan Kraft in the face."

Austin snorted, not able to help himself.

"Those were both accidents! And I made Evan a get-well card to say sorry," he said defensively, but he sounded sheepish.

"Ally's not _that_ bad of a dancer," Austin piped up. "Remember when we slow-danced at Trish's party?"

She nodded, smiling at the memory. "Yeah, it was really sweet of you to do that."

"It was nothing." But on the inside, he was bursting with pride, and a bit of smugness. He took a small sideways glance at Elliot, the smugness creeping into his smile.

"Of course, you did drop me on the dance floor." The smile fell from his face, replaced by a look of horror.

This time Elliot snorted. "You dropped her?"

Austin felt heat rushing to his cheeks. "I didn't mean to! There was this air-horn and I was caught off guard."

"Oh come on, Elliot. It's not like he gave someone a bloody nose, like this _other_ person I know," she said, giving him a pointed look.

Elliot stuck his tongue out at her and Ally followed suit before they burst into laughter. It looked like he was about to say something, when a phone began to ring. It turned out to be his and he checked the caller I.D. before answering.

"Mom? Yeah, sure. Okay, see you there."

"Was that your mom?" Ally asked, finishing the fries on her plate.

"Yeah, she told me we're going to the beach. Want to come?" Austin couldn't tell if the question was directed to the both of them, but Elliot hadn't taken his eyes off of Ally.

"Sorry, we have school tomorrow," she replied, gesturing between the two of them. "Besides, I don't like the beach all that much, remember?"

"Yeah, neither do I."

A grin appeared on Ally's face. "Just don't fall asleep and get sunburnt again."

"Har har har." Elliot tried to look annoyed, but it didn't really work because of the smile on his face. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow? I'll call you."

"Okay."

He turned to Austin this time. "It was great meeting you. Maybe we'll see each other again?"

"Yeah, sure."

Austin was expecting him to leave then, but before he left he turned back to Ally, giving her a tight hug. "Bye, Ally-cat."

"See you," she said, her arms wrapped around his neck.

Austin felt the boiling in the pit of his stomach. The only person she hugged like that was _him_. No one else.

Once he left, Ally went to throw her trash away before facing Austin and asking, "So, what'd you think of Elliot?"

"He seems nice." He pushed down that boiling feeling, trying to keep his voice light. They began to head back to Sonic Boom, walking slowly.

"You seemed kind of quiet. Are you okay?"

Austin shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want to interrupt you guys. You looked like you had a lot of catching up to do."

He tried to act like he didn't care, but the fact that Elliot had taken up so much of Ally's attention bugged him. After all, he was always the one in the spotlight, literally and figuratively. Having to share Ally's attention with someone else unnerved him, and he had no idea why.

"Sorry for talking so much. Elliot's a really great friend, and I missed him. But I'm so glad you like him," she said cheerfully. He didn't bother trying to correct her, especially since didn't have the heart to lie. But the truth was, he didn't like Elliot one bit.

The worst part? Even if Austin wanted to hate Elliot with every fiber of his being, it was kind of impossible. He was so_ nice._ It was like this kid was incapable of being anything but super polite and awkwardly personable. And then he suddenly noticed how similar Elliot and Ally were. The love for crafting and the lame attempts at jokes. The dislike of beaches and the bad dancing. The way they both smiled wholeheartedly, grinning from ear to ear.

And, for a scary moment, Austin couldn't recall what he and Ally had in common. He wasn't crafty, or awkward, or brainy, and his demeanor exuded laid-back confidence; he was absolutely nothing like Ally. How was it that they could call each other best friends when they were polar opposites?

Then, like an echo coming to the front of his mind, he remembered why. Music. They were best friends because they both loved music. She was a songwriter with stage fright. He was a singer who loved being on stage. _They were a perfect match._ He had even told her himself when he asked her to be his partner. They needed each other. And he was starting to think as maybe as more than just partners.

He tried to ignore those feelings though. After all, Ally was just a really close friend. And the only reason Elliot was bothering him so much was because he was getting in the way of song-writing time. He was hogging up all of Ally's attention and they hadn't worked on a song in days. Yup. That was it.

For a long moment they walked in silence, when Ally suddenly spoke up. "How was your date with Kira? I saw you two sitting together."

He was taken aback for a moment, suddenly remembering his girlfriend. "It was fine," he answered quickly. "We were talking, but then she had to leave. Something about a project. But we're hanging out again tomorrow."

"Great. I'm so happy for the two of you. You guys are really cute together."

"Thanks." They had reached the front entrance of Sonic Boom. It wasn't very busy, and only a few customers were milling around the displays. "You've been pretty busy this past week," he commented, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice."

"Yeah. Between school and work and showing Elliot around, I've been really preoccupied."

"I've missed hanging out with you," he said without thinking. When he realized what he'd said, he quickly corrected himself. "I mean, Trish, Dez, and I have missed hanging out with you. And we haven't gotten any song-writing done lately either."

"Oh. Sorry about that," she said guiltily. "How about we set some time apart? You know, for song-writing and hanging out."

He gave her a smile. "That sounds great."

She returned the smile before walking behind he counter.

"Hey, Ally?" he started up again. She looked up from where she'd been organizing receipts. "Thanks."

She gave him a puzzled look, tilting her head slightly. "For what?"

"Just because."

She looked like she was about to ask more, but she shook her head and went back to stacking receipts, the smile still on her face. Honestly, he didn't know why he was thanking her either. But it might've been because he was glad she was his friend.

Maybe there was some other kid taking away his time with Ally, but Austin reassured himself that no one could replace what he and Ally had together. Not even a nice, nerdy, awkward, crafting, beach hating, badly dancing, old friend of hers. Of course, that didn't mean Austin didn't like him any less.

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**AN: Hello there! Goodness, the reception I'm getting for this story is amazing! Thanks again to everyone that's reading! I'm so glad you like my writing. And it's so flattering when you guys favorite, follow, or review and tell me your thoughts. Seriously, I don't think you guys understand how happy I am when you guys comment on my work. **

**So about this chapter: I felt like it was kind of a filler-chapter. It could've been more interesting, but you did get a little more insight on Austin and his feelings about Ally (of course, he's not very good at communicating feelings in the first place). The chapters following this one should be more fun, and include some more jealous Austin. **

**I hope you liked it! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	4. Bowling & Bowls of Ice Cream

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

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Going back to school after spring break was like walking on broken glass: excruciatingly painful. Of course, Austin had never had any personal experience with walking on broken glass, but he imagined that this must be what it felt like. That, and it was the best he could come up with considering his brain was thoroughly fried after a full day of learning and relearning everything he had unlearnt during the week off from school. It was a miracle he hadn't fallen asleep in all of his classes (okay, that was kind of a lie, he fell asleep during first period, but he swore he didn't mean to).

Needless to say, Austin was ecstatic when the final bell rang. He bounded out of his U.S. history class with a renewed energy and practically skipped all the way to his locker. Packing up his stuff, he caught a glimpse of the bright pink top Ally was wearing from the corner of his eye. She was at her locker sliding notebooks into her book bag like he was, although at a slower place (not to mention her locker was impeccably organized compared to the disaster zone that was his). He zipped up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder before strolling over to her, a grin slipping onto his face.

"Hey, Ally."

She looked up, startled by his sudden appearance. "Oh, hey, Austin."

"I was wondering if you had time before you had to go to work today? Maybe we could fit in some songwriting before you start your shift."

A smile played on her lips, and Austin couldn't help the warm feeling that spread through him at the sight. It was like a beam of sunshine was streaming down on him. He puzzled over the feeling for a second before dismissing it. Besides, it was always sunny in Miami. It must've been the heat.

"Actually, I don't have to work today, so that sounds great." Suddenly, her smile disappeared as quickly as it came and her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "But didn't you say you were hanging out with Kira after school today."

Oh, right. Kira. His _girlfriend. _He mentally scolded himself for forgetting about her. _Again. _At this rate, he could be nominated for Worst Boyfriend Ever. "Oh, yeah. It must have slipped my mind."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Don't worry about it. We can work on a new song some other time."

Again with the _some other time. _It irritated him to no end how they kept postponing hanging out. Sure, it wasn't because they wanted to postpone it, but Austin and Ally hadn't really spent time together in over a week. According to Austin that might as well have been a decade.

"Yeah, alright." He tried to disguise his disappointment, but even he could hear it in his voice. Ally either didn't notice or chose to ignore it because she went back to packing up her things.

"So do you have anything planned with Kira?"

Austin leaned against the locker next to Ally's, scuffing his shoe against the ground. "Not really. We'll probably just go to the mall or maybe to the park."

Ally gave him a small smile, taking a quick glance at him. "That sounds like fun."

He was about to reply with the best fake-enthusiasm he could muster (because, honestly, he wanted to spend some time with _her_), but before he could, the telltale arguing of their best friends grew louder as they approached Ally's locker.

"Dolphins are _mammals_, you nimrod!"

"No, they're _not!_ They're _fish!_ They can swim!"

Trish stopped abruptly to give him an annoyed look. "Humans can swim! So do dogs, and penguins, and polar bears! Does that mean they're fish too?"

"Do we even want to know?" Austin interrupted them. He raised an eyebrow at the quarreling pair, considering whether he should ask about their latest disagreement. He decided against it.

But it was too late. "I was just telling Trish how I was going to do my oceanography project on my favorite fish, which is the dolphin, then she called me some really mean names, and-"

"I think we can fill in the blanks," Ally cut in before he could go on any further, saving Austin and herself from Dez's probably very long and detailed recap of the argument.

Trish heaved a heavy sigh, like she wanted to wring Dez's neck. "I swear, this kid is a walking migraine," she muttered not so quietly. Then again, she probably hadn't meant for it to be in the first place.

Austin and Ally simultaneously rolled their eyes, used to their best friends' antics. The foursome began walking to the exit, Trish and Dez walking ahead and resuming their bickering.

Trailing behind them, Austin asked Ally, "When do you think they'll be done?"

Ally glanced ahead and watched as Dez and Trish threw insults back and forth between each other. "I'll give it another five minutes."

"I say ten. Loser buys ice cream?"

She gave him a challenging look. "You're on."

They shook hands to seal the deal. Austin tried to convince himself those weren't tingles shooting up his arm at the contact (because that'd be ridiculous, after all, he had a _girlfriend_).

They had just made it out the front doors of the school when something, or rather _someone_, caught Austin's attention.

"Hey, Ally!"

She turned at the sound of her name, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw who was calling her.

"Elliot? What are you doing here? I thought you said you'd just call me."

Austin's good mood was gone in record time. He watched as Ally made her way to Elliot, the smile on her face matching his.

"I went to Sonic Boom to look for you, but your dad said you were still at school, so I asked which one you went to. I thought I'd pick you up from here."

"Aw. That's so sweet of you."

_Sweet? _Getting on stage to perform your best friend's song for her because she had stage fright and she was about to be humiliated by a crazy blogger was sweet. Sneaking out of the house after you got grounded to sing at your best friend's fundraiser was sweet. Giving up your chance to perform in front of a club owner and possibly go on a tour so you could dance with your best friend because her crush turned her down was sweet. Asking where she went to school and waiting for her outside? Now that was just _creepy_.

From next to him, Austin noticed that Dez and Trish had stopped fighting (which meant Ally won the bet) and watched as Ally and Elliot spoke to each other.

"Who's the cute guy?" Trish asked curiously, forgetting about her argument with Dez.

Austin pouted at her comment, keeping his mouth shut before he said something he'd regret. Instead he just replied, "That's _Elliot_."

She must not have caught his irritated tone. "_That's_ Elliot?" she asked, surprised. "Ally's-old-friend-from-camp-that-she-hung-out-with-for-all-of-spring-break Elliot?"

His tone remained the same as he dryly said, "Yup."

Just then, Ally led Elliot over to them, her hand in his. Austin's gaze was glued to their hands, willing them separate, but they remained clasped together.

"Elliot, these are my friends. That's Trish, and Dez," she said, gesturing to them, "and you met Austin yesterday."

"It's nice to meet you guys! Ally's told me a lot about you." Trish and Dez traded greetings with him amiably, and then he turned to Austin. "Nice seeing you again."

Austin only nodded his head, not about to lie and say that he felt the same. "So, what are you doing here, Elliot?"

"Actually, I was wondering if Ally could hang out again today."

_Again? _Didn't this guy have other stuff to do besides spend time with her, Austin wondered to himself. This was Miami, after all. There was tons of stuff to do here.

He was about to say something, when Dez piped up first. "Really? You and Ally have been spending an awful lot of time together. I don't think I saw you at all during Spring Break, Ally! I thought you were kidnapped by aliens!"

Elliot chuckled at the comment. "I guess that makes me an alien then, huh? Hey, how about we all do something together? I do feel pretty bad about stealing Ally for the past week," he said sheepishly.

"That sounds like a great idea! And you guys can get to know Elliot too." Ally said excitedly.

Usually, Austin was glad to see Ally get really excited, but he was having a tough time seeing her so happy over spending more time with Elliot. Didn't she used to get that excited when the two of them hung out? Or when he said or did something thoughtful?

Then again, he supposed it was better for them to hang out as a group rather than just the two of them alone.

"Wait," Ally's voice lost its enthusiasm suddenly, "Austin, you have a date with Kira today."

_Shoot. _He forgot again. Forget a nomination, he had officially won Worst Boyfriend Ever.

"Yeah, I do."

"That's okay," Elliot spoke up, "we wouldn't want you to cancel your date with your girlfriend."

The thought of just the four of them hanging out bothered Austin too though. It felt Elliot had just pranced in and now he was replacing Austin.

"Actually," Austin started up before he could stop himself, "why don't I invite her too? The six of us can all hang out, then."

"Are you sure?" Ally asked. "You don't have to, and I know you and Kira might want to be alone."

"No, it's fine," he insisted. "Besides, she's going to be hanging out with us more often anyways. You guys should get to know her too."

"Great! So, what do you guys want to do?" Elliot asked the four of them.

"I'm up for anything," Trish replied, "but let's not got to Pizza Palace. I really don't want to go to work today."

The rest of the group didn't argue, and began walking away from the school building.

* * *

"How about we bowl in teams?"

After making a few suggestions for what to do, the group finally agreed on going bowling. Kira met them outside of the bowling alley, introducing herself to Elliot and saying hi to everyone else.

Elliot had just finished tying the laces of his shoes, when he directed his question to the group.

"Sure," Ally said. "How do you want to split it up? Boys versus Girls?"

"But that's no fun!" Trish said from her seat at the score monitor. "Obviously the guys would win." She continued to type names onto the score chart.

"How about we do it in pairs?" Elliot said, coming to stand next to Ally. "One guy and one girl per team."

"Oh, oh, oh! I call Trish!" Dez exclaimed, raising his hand and bouncing up and down like he was waiting to be called on.

"What? _Why?_" Trish looked like she was about to knock him over the head.

"I've been on the receiving end of your punches before. You've got the perfect arm for bowling!"

She gave him a dry look. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Of course!" he replied animatedly.

"Well, then I call Austin," Kira said, her bowling shoes finally secure on her feet. She smiled over at him, and he returned it, but he felt like it wasn't as genuine as it seemed.

"I guess that leaves you and me, Ally-cat." Elliot turned to Ally. "You ready?"

"Let's do this!" She lifted up a bowling ball from the rack, but it was too heavy for her. She couldn't balance the ball in her hand and was about to drop it, when Elliot grabbed it from her, keeping her from tumbling down with the ball.

He let out a small laugh. "How about we find you a lighter ball first? We can't win if you hurt yourself."

Ally steadied herself and blushed at her bout of clumsiness.

Austin watched the pair, narrowing his eyes at their sudden proximity. Elliot still hadn't let go of Ally's waist.

Not really thinking his actions through, he got up and went to stand right between them, wrapping his arms around their shoulders and forcing Elliot to let go of Ally's waist. A little too animatedly, he said, "How about we start the game?"

Suddenly, Dez appeared from behind them with a fluorescent orange ball in his hands.

"We're taking you guys down!"

He walked up to their lane and flung the ball at the pins.

* * *

Ally and Elliot had started out in the lead, then Austin and Kira behind them while Trish and Dez trailed in last place.

Austin couldn't help getting a bit competitive and pouting every time Elliot got a spare or a strike. Or maybe he was pouting because every time Elliot got a spare or a strike, Ally would give him a high-five or a hug.

It threw him off his game, and when Austin went to bowl, he would roll the ball a little too hard, or jerked it into the gutter

It seemed like the game would go to Ally and Elliot when, all of a sudden, Trish and Dez pulled ahead. Somehow, Dez's strange technique turned out to make strike after strike. Even Trish was excited enough to high-five him a few times.

The game ended with Trish and Dez in first place, then Ally and Elliot in second, and Kira and Austin last. Austin wasn't that upset over losing. But watching Ally and Elliot together made his stomach sink lower and lower. It must've been on the ground now.

"Wow, great job, Dez!" Elliot's voice tore him from his thoughts as he complimented his best friend's bowling skills. "You didn't miss one pin for the last quarter of the game!"

"I know! It was awesome! I'm so glad I recorded all of it. I can use it for my new movie: _Revenge of the Bowling Balls_. The rest of the group gave him confused looks, but he remained unfazed, happy that his team had won.

"Tonight was a lot of fun, guys," Kira said. "My dad's waiting outside for me, so I better get going. Thanks so much for inviting me!"

"It was great hanging out with you! We'll see you later!" Ally said, hugging her goodbye.

When they pulled apart from each other, Austin gave her a hug too. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Cool. Talk to you then." She pecked him on the cheek, waved to everyone else, and walked out of the bowling alley.

"I should probably get going too." Elliot said. "My mom told me to meet her for dinner at five and it's already past four-thirty."

"And I have to go work on my oceanography project." Dez said, handing his rental shoes to the employee behind the register.

"I think I'll stop by work and quit. I have like six missed calls from my boss. He's probably fired me already anyways."

Trish, Dez, and Elliot left next, each saying goodbye first. He didn't want to admit it, but Austin was relieved to finally be alone with Ally. No Elliot getting in the way. No Trish distracting Ally. No Dez interrupting them. No Kira taking up his attention. Yup, definitely Worst Boyfriend Ever.

When Austin and Ally had returned their bowling shoes and paid their shares of the game, they walked out, the setting sun making long shadows as they walked along the sidewalk.

"Today was a lot of fun," Ally said, looking ahead as she walked at a steady pace.

"Yeah, it was." He watched her as they walked, not being able to take his eyes off the way the sun made her eyes shine.

"It's too bad you and Kira came in last place." She turned to face him then, and, afraid he'd get caught staring, he quickly faced forward, probably giving himself whiplash.

"It's okay. I guess my mind was just somewhere else during the game."

"Really? Do you want to talk about it?"

Talk about how watching Ally and Elliot hug and act all friendly and close with each other? And how it made him want to punch something (or some_one_, a specific someone). No thanks. Besides, it wasn't that big of a deal. It's not like he was jealous or something. Because that'd be crazy.

"It's nothing."

"Are you sure? It seems like something's bothering you. You know you can tell me anything."

Sure he could tell her everything. Everything except how much her old friend from camp was driving him up the wall. And how she seemed to like him so much.

"Let's go get ice cream," he said suddenly, changing the subject.

Ally gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

"Let's go get ice cream," he repeated. "You won the bet from earlier today, remember? So it's my treat."

"But Austin-"

_"Please?" _He gave her his best persuasive smile, trying to get her to agree.

She was about to say no, say something about how there was school the next day and homework that needed to get done, but she couldn't say no to him. Especially not when he was smiling at her like that.

"Fine."

"Yes! Let's go!" He led the way, grabbing her hand like how she had held Elliot's after school. However, she found that holding Elliot's hand hadn't sent butterflies fluttering through her stomach like it was now with Austin's hand firmly grasping hers.

The ice cream parlor at the mall was still open, and Austin ordered a bowl of Fruity Mint Swirl for Ally and one of Rocky Road for himself. They decided to sit outside, wanting to take in the last rays of sun before it set completely.

"Well it's not really time for songwriting, but at least we got to hang out together," Austin said, licking the remaining ice cream off of his spoon before taking another scoop.

"We could start working on a song right now." Ally set her own spoon down, taking out her songbook from her purse.

"So what kind of song?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe we could write a love song? You could tell me about your relationship with Kira."

Austin dismissed the idea. "Our last song was a love song. We should try something different."

"Different? Like what?" Ally wiped some ice cream off her hand with a napkin, not liking the sticky feeling it left. She dug her hand sanitizer out of her purse.

"How about something sad? You always write happy songs for me."

She gave him a strange look as she rubbed the hand sanitizer between her fingers. "But Austin, you don't like sad songs. And I write you happy songs because you're just a happy person."

"Okay, well it doesn't have to be a _totally_ sad song, just something not _totally_ happy. Like… a guy that has feelings for a girl, and she doesn't like him back."

The suggestion made Ally's heart beat speed up suddenly. The guy she liked singing a song about an unrequited crush? This couldn't be some coincidence. The universe was playing a cruel joke on her.

"Oh, alright. But where'd you get the idea from?"

Austin shrugged. "I was just thinking about what would be the opposite of _No Ordinary Day, _and since that was a love song, I thought we could try a guy-doesn't-get-the-girl song."

"Okay," she said, writing down the idea. "So how do you feel when you like someone, and they don't like you back?"

His expression turned thoughtful, his head tilted to the side a bit. "Huh, I'm not really sure."

"What, you've never had a crush on a girl that didn't like you back?"

He remained quiet, thinking for a second before answering, "Nope."

_"What?" _She asked, incredulous.

"Well, if you count all my celebrity crushes, I guess I've had a one-sided crush before, but if not, then nope." He spooned some more ice cream into his mouth, watching Ally as she continued to stare at him disbelievingly.

Of all the injustices in the world, of course, her best friend had always gotten the girl he wanted. No wonder he was so girl-crazy. There was no way he could get rejected.

"Then how do you think it'd feel if the girl you liked didn't like you? Or liked someone else?"

"Probably pretty bad."

Ally rolled her eyes at his vague answer. "Coming from someone with a lot of experience with one-sided crushes, trust me, it's more than just 'pretty bad.'"

"Oh. Sorry," he apologized quickly.

"It's just… you want to show that person why you'd be great together. Or show them how great you are. But it always feels like I'm invisible to them." Catching her mistake, she corrected herself. "I mean it feels like you're invisible to them."

"We can make the song about that then. Trying to show a girl why the guy is the one for her."

"Like how he can be everything that she wants."

"Exactly!"

They threw ideas back and forth, taking turns to write in her book, until the sun was almost set. When they were done, their ice cream was all melted.

But they didn't seem too upset over it.

* * *

**AN: Hello! I was planning on submitting this chapter earlier, but I thought I'd make it a bit longer for you guys (I didn't think you'd mind too much). Also, I finally introduced Trish and Dez into the story too, which I was glad about. I mean, it's not really _Austin & Ally_ without all four of them (despite what the title of the show suggests). I tried to make it as interesting as possible, and I really wanted to move the story forward, but I'm not sure if I succeeded in that or not. Thoughts?**

**On another note, I'm wondering what you guys think of using both Austin's and Ally's points of view? Usually, I hate when writers use multiple POVs within one chapter (it gives me a massive headache), so I try to keep that to a minimum, and only when I have to. I had initially planned on making this completely in Austin's POV, but I quickly realized we need Ally's voice too, so I'll probably alternate between the two, or use a little of both in longer chapters like this one. More thoughts?**

**And lastly, thanks again to everyone who's reading! **

**I hope you liked this chapter! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	5. Moving On & Making Music

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

* * *

"So how's the new song coming along?"

Ally looked up from her lunch, hearing her friend's voice over the noise in the cafeteria. Across the table, Trish gave her an expectant look, waiting for an answer. Turning her fork between her fingers, Ally shrugged her shoulders.

"It's coming along," she said noncommittally.

Trish's expectant look morphed into a curious one. The answer she got from Ally wasn't the one she'd been anticipating. "Just _coming along_? Usually you get all hyped up about a new song and you won't leave the practice room for days until it's done."

Ally continued to push her pasta salad around with her fork, suddenly losing her appetite. "It's not that I'm not excited about it. I can already tell it's going to be a great song. It's just…" She let her voice trail off, reluctant to go on.

"It's just what?" Trish prodded, trying to get her best friend to open up (which was surprisingly tougher than it seemed considering Ally talked a lot).

"It's just that the song is about a one-sided crush."

_"Oh." _She sent an uneasy glance Ally's way before asking, "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am!" Her reply was a little too enthusiastic. Noticing this, Ally cleared her throat, toning down her energy a few notches. "I'm fine."

She was suddenly taken back to a few weeks prior when Trish had asked her the same question after watching Austin and Kira walk out of Sonic Boom together. Ally had answered the exact same way. It was a lie then, and it was a lie now.

"Ally, you know you don't have to put up a front. You can tell me anything."

"I know." An audible sigh escaped her lips. "I'm just wondering why, of all the different things we could be writing about, we're writing a song about this."

"So you still like Austin?"

Ally nodded forlornly.

She remembered how excited she'd been when she first told Trish about her crush. When she had finally realized her feelings for Austin she was ecstatic. But now Ally wondered why she'd been so happy about it. Sure, liking someone was a great feeling; the stomach flipping and butterflies and writing in her songbook in explicit detail every time that special someone smiled at her. But there were those not-so-nice feelings too, like her heart panging pathetically inside her chest whenever she saw Austin and Kira together.

"You know," Trish started, feigning nonchalance, "you could always just _tell him._"

Ally sighed again. "We've been over this already, Trish. If I tell him, everything will be ruined. Nothing would be the same again and I don't want things to turn weird between us. There's too much on the line."

"But there's always a chance he might like you back."

"He's dating Kira, remember? He likes _her_," she said, putting emphasis on the last word. "I don't want to jeopardize their relationship, especially when she makes him so happy. And I'm not about to ruin that. Remember how the date I planned for them turned out to be a disaster? It was all my fault! No more repeats of that."

The last thing she wanted to do was mess things up between Austin and Kira. _Again_. She may have had a crush on him, but she was Austin's friend before she had feelings for him. That was her first priority: being his friend. And friends didn't ruin their friends' relationships. No matter how much they liked them. Besides, she was genuinely happy for him. And when he was happy, so was she. The thought lingered as a dull pang reverberated through her chest once more.

While Ally was lost in thought, Trish looked on with a sympathetic gaze.

"Ally-"

"It's okay, Trish," she suddenly interrupted, making a decision. "I think… I think I should try to get over Austin."

Her eyes widened at Ally's words. "_What?_ You only just started liking him! And you're just going to give up?"

"I'm not giving up. I'm just letting him go. Obviously things aren't going to go anywhere between us. It'd probably be better for all of us if I moved on."

Trish didn't seem convinced. "Ally, you're probably more of an expert on feelings and stuff than I am, but I don't think you can just 'move on' from a crush like that. You see Austin all the time and you guys are best friends. Getting over him isn't going to happen over night."

Ally stopped playing with her fork, setting it down on the table. "I know, but I need to at least try, right? And things have been getting easier. I mean, I've been keeping my mind off of Austin and Kira, I'm writing new music, and I've been hanging out with Elliot-"

At the mention of Ally's old camp friend, Trish spoke up. "Oh, _Elliot_."

Her suggestive tone threw Ally off and she gave her best friend a weird look. "Yeah, Elliot. I've been hanging out with him while he's here in Miami."

"Hanging out? Or _hanging out?_"

Ally's eyebrows furrowed a bit deeper, still not able to comprehend what Trish meant. "Uh, Trish, I don't think I understand what you're trying to say."

With a dramatic roll of her eyes, Trish gave Ally a knowing look. "You know what I'm talking about!"

Ally shook her head slowly, starting to get seriously confused.

"You and Elliot! Is there something going on between the two of you?"

Ally stared incredulously, taking a moment to process her words. "_What?_ Me? And Elliot? We're just friends! We've been friends since we were fourteen. We've been friends since he had braces and couldn't swim and accidentally burned himself while we were making s'mores!"

"So you guys have been friends for a really long time. What's the big deal? He's really cute! And I think he likes you!"

"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous." Ally went to throw her trash away, and when she came back to the table, Trish was bouncing in her seat.

"He's so into you! Like when we went bowling, he wouldn't leave your side and he kept hugging you and he was cheering for you when you went up for your turn."

"That's because we were on the same team! Dez cheered for you when you were bowling."

Trish waved a hand dismissively. "That's different. Elliot totally likes you! And if you want to get over Austin, maybe you should try going out with him."

Ally considered Trish's words warily. "I'm not going to use my old friend to get over my crush. That's not fair to him." As an afterthought, she added, "And Elliot doesn't like me so it wouldn't work anyway."

"But what if he did?" Trish asked. "Would you consider going out with him then?"

A familiar pair of blue eyes and a wide smile appeared in the back of her mind, grinning at her. Elliot _was_ pretty cute. And they got along really well together. They had so much in common. What would it be like dating him? She contemplated the idea and found that they'd probably make a good match. A really good match, if she was being completely honest with herself. But, if she were still being completely honest with herself, she knew she'd never feel the same way about him the way she felt about Austin.

Elliot was sweet, and funny, and cute, and they were alike in so many ways, but it wouldn't be fair to go out with him while she still had feelings for someone else. And she especially didn't want to take advantage of him. He didn't deserve that. No one did. He'd just end up stuck in the same position she was in at the moment: having feelings for a friend while they liked someone else.

Of course, this was all assuming he had feelings for her (which she was sure he didn't).

Ally shook her head in response to Trish's question. "Even if Elliot did like me, and I know he doesn't, I wouldn't go out with him."

"Fine, but when he asks you out, I have full authority to say I told you so."

She rolled her eyes at her friend's insistence, but there was a smile playing at her lips. "Whatever you say, Trish."

The bell indicating lunch was over rang overhead, and the pair rushed to the exit, trying to avoid the wave of students that would follow.

Getting over Austin wouldn't be an easy task, but Ally decided it was the only way to solve her problem. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she did know one thing for sure; she wasn't going to use Elliot to get over him. When did her love life become so complicated, she thought to herself exasperatedly. A few weeks ago she didn't even _have_ a love life! She supposed she technically didn't have one at the moment either. Sighing internally, she put those thoughts to the back of her mind. She'd focus on school now, and her personal problems later.

* * *

"What was it like when you had a crush on Dallas?" Austin asked. He was sitting in one of the chairs in Sonic Boom's practice room, using his legs to swivel slightly from side to side.

After school, Austin had appeared at Ally's locker again, asking if she had some time to work on their new song. She'd have to start her shift soon, but she had agreed to spend a few minutes with him thinking of some more ideas.

Ally sat in the chair opposite to Austin, her songbook open in her lap. She tapped a pen to her chin thinking of her old crush. She almost laughed at how awkward she was whenever she was near him. Mostly, she wanted to cringe, but she'd settle for laughing at herself.

"Well you and I both know that I never knew what to say around him. I was always tongue tied." She scribbled that down along with her other notes.

Austin chuckled slightly recalling some of the things she'd said. "Yeah. Remember when he told you he'd see you later and you said, 'not if your eyes are closed!'" He continued to laugh, but Ally just stared at him wryly.

"Okay, I get it, I'm not much a smooth-talker."

He stopped laughing, but a smile remained on his face. "So how else did you feel?"

"I always had butterflies when I saw him, like my stomach was doing somersaults. It was probably why I never knew what to say."

She continued to write down their ideas, but she didn't notice Austin staring at her. He watched as she tilted her head while writing, and when she tucked a stray curl behind her ear he felt the telltale butterflies she'd just mentioned. Of course, he just ignored the feeling, passing it off as an empty stomach.

"Tongue twisting and stomach flipping?" he asked. "That doesn't sound all that bad."

"Sure, but that's not all there is to a one-sided crush," Ally said, finally looking up from her songbook. "It can hurt too. Like that time he turned me down when I asked him to dance at Trish's party. I mean, it ended up being okay, but I was pretty upset when he said no."

"I know. That's why I asked you to dance."

Ally smiled at the memory. "Yeah, and with a sprained ankle too."

"What can I say?" Austin asked, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm a nice guy."

"Yes, you are."

A beat passed in silence, both of them smiling at each other, when Ally broke the moment, averting her gaze. She could get lost in his eyes and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to find her way out if she stared for too long.

"So, we're writing about how a guy wants to show the girl he likes that he can be her everything, even if she likes another guy."

"Because this other guy isn't right for her at all," he said, words quickly pouring out of his mouth before he could stop them. "He can't give her what she wants and she'd never be happy with him."

Ally glanced at him, puzzled by his sudden outburst. "Uh, okay. So her crush isn't right for her, but the guy that likes her is."

"Yeah. He'd make her happy and get her to try new things and have fun. He'd do anything for her." He was staring at her again, but this time Ally could feel his gaze on her. She quelled the warm feeling spreading through her, not wanting to blush in front of him.

"But this girl, she still doesn't feel the same way about him?"

Austin shook his head slowly, his expression uncharacteristically serious. "She's always telling him they're just friends."

Ally suddenly found that she couldn't speak, feeling her heart leap up to her throat. To distract herself she continued to write down what Austin was telling her, this time unable to fight the blush creeping onto her cheeks. She prayed for him not to notice.

She mentally scolded herself for letting him get to her like this. She was supposed to be getting over him! Letting him go, setting him free like those romance novels she sometimes read. The noble heroine would gracefully let go of her love, moving on and finding bigger and better things to accomplish in life, her dignity still intact. But here she was floundering over a _glance _from Austin. So much for grace and dignity, she thought to herself resignedly.

"Alright," Ally said, finally able to compose herself, "how does this sound? I just put together some of the stuff we've thought of."

"Lay it on me."

_"Every time you look my way_

_ I never know what to say._

_ You've got my tongue twisting,_

_ Stomach flipping._

_ Girl, you're driving me insane."_

She looked up to see Austin nodding along. "So far, so good. Keep going."

_ "Whenever you're with this guy_

_ I can see something ain't right._

_ Seeing you two makes me crazy._

_ Why can't you see?_

_ Baby, you belong with me."_

"That's great." He gave her a thumbs-up. "Especially the _you belong with me_ part." She ignored her suddenly accelerating heartbeat. "Anything else?"

_ "But you're always saying_

_ You and me, we're just friends._

_ How can I show you_

_ I can be your everything?"_

He was smiling his million-watt smile once she was done reading. "Everything sounds awesome, like always. Great job, Ally."

"It's nothing much, really," she said dismissively. "There isn't a chorus, and we don't even have any music to go along with it yet."

"Yeah, but I know it's going to be amazing. You're writing it, after all."

Ally didn't even bother trying to fight the blush this time. "You really are a nice guy, Austin."

He looked like he was about to say something, but whatever he was going to say next, Ally never heard because at that moment the door to the practice room flung open and Dez ran in.

"Austin!" he cried, panting so he could catch his breath. "They're handing out free samples at the Flap Jack Shack!"

To prove his point, Dez held up an assortment of pancakes, stuffing the one on the top of the stack into his mouth.

An ecstatic expression appeared on Austin's face, like a child that was told Christmas was coming early. "Awesome! Let's go!" Dez exited the room just as quickly as he came. Austin was hot on his heels when he suddenly stopped in his tracks at the door. Turning around to face Ally, he asked, "We'll finish up later?"

Ally nodded. "Definitely. Now go before all the pancakes are gone."

He grinned at her. "Thanks, Ally! See you later!" And Austin was out the door.

She got up from her seat, closing her songbook, and getting ready for work. A smile was on her face. Even though no one was in the room to hear, she spoke out loud to herself.

"Not if your eyes are closed."

* * *

**AN: Hello again (and if this is your first time reading, hello to you too)! **

**For this chapter, I decided to add some girl talk between Ally and Trish because, after watching Girlfriends & Girl Friends, I was so impressed by Trish and I was glad to see Ally had a supportive friend with her through her tough times. Well done indeed, Miss De la Rosa! So I felt like I needed to put a moment between them in here. **

**I also put in some more Austin & Ally time because you guys seemed to enjoy that a lot in the last chapter. No Elliot or Kira getting in the way this time! Although Dez and his impeccable timing did make a cameo appearance (Why, Dez? _Why?_). **

**And guys, I actually wrote a song... just for this story. I'm seriously becoming way too invested in this show. I've never even written a song before! But I felt compelled to write something original rather than use a song by another artist. Thoughts?**

**And my favorite part was definitely the ending, haha.**

**To everyone who's read, followed, favorited, or reviewed _any _of my stories: Thank you so much!**

**I hope you liked this chapter! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	6. Fighting & Figuring out Feelings

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

* * *

"Did you find some time for songwriting with Ally?"

Kira lifted her chin to meet Austin's eyes with a curious look. Austin looked down at where she was tucked into his side, shifting the arm that was wrapped around her shoulders so they could make eye contact more comfortably.

"Yeah," he started cheerfully, "ever since Elliot came to town, she's been hanging out with him, but he's leaving this weekend so we're finally going to have time to write music again." He happily thought about Elliot's impending leave, and maybe a bit smugly too. Once Elliot was gone, everything would be back to normal, and that's all Austin wanted. "We've been working on a new song for the past few days, and I know it's going to be awesome!"

Kira nodded, looking away so she could watch where she was stepping, afraid she'd trip on one of the cobblestones imbedded in the mall's walkway. They walked along at a steady pace, not in a rush to get anywhere.

"That's great," she said, smiling at him. "What's it about?"

He remained quiet for a beat, not sure how to explain it. He finally settled on a word. "A crush."

"A crush?"

"Yeah. It's kind of on the sad side. It's about a guy that likes a girl, but she likes someone else. So he's trying to show her why he's the one for her."

"Oh."

"I came up with the idea, but Ally's doing most of the writing," he said, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly. "She's the one that usually puts the words together. I've never been very good at that, but I guess that's why we make such a good team."

"I guess so," she replied, but her tone seemed hesitant. "So, you came up with the idea for the song?"

"Yup," he nodded his head as he answered. "Ally asked if I wanted to write another love song, but we just released _No Ordinary Day_, so I thought we should try something a little different."

"That makes sense." She was quiet for a moment before asking, "So, this song, is it about anyone in particular?" Kira turned her head to face him again.

He shook his head. "Nope."

Kira seemed to brighten a bit, slightly cheerier than before. "Well, I'm sure my dad's going to love it. You're an amazing performer."

A wide grin spread across his lips. "Thanks, Kira. But you know I can't take all the credit. I wouldn't have made it this far without Ally." Realizing what he'd just said, he quickly added, "Or Dez, or Trish."

They continued to walk in silence for a few steps, when Kira spoke up again. "So, if this song isn't about anyone, how are you guys writing it?"

"Well, Ally and I have been thinking of ideas together. It's sort of like a story. We just don't know if the guy ends up with the girl in the end."

"You could always make it a happy ending."

Austin contemplated the idea. He and Ally hadn't really thought about how they would finish the song, but it left him curious. Would the guy's efforts pay off? Would the girl get over the other guy and realize he was the one for her? Would they finally end up together?

"Maybe."

* * *

"Hey, Ally."

Looking up from the cash register, Ally met Elliot's blue eyes and beaming smile.

"Hi, Elliot. What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going to the waterpark today."

"I am in a little bit, but I thought I'd stop by and say hi first. Are you busy?"

Ally shrugged her shoulders and gestured to the empty counter. "Nope, I'm all yours."

"Good because I wanted to ask you something."

She quirked an eyebrow and came around from behind the counter so she was standing in front of him. "You did? What's up?"

"I know I'm leaving on Sunday, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out some time?"

"Sure," she replied casually. "When are you free?"

Her response left him a little dumbfounded. "Uh, I don't think you understand, Ally-cat," he said.

"What do you mean? We've been hanging out almost everyday since you arrived in Miami."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm not asking if you want to hang out. I'm asking if you'd like to go on a date with me."

Ally's eyes widened in realization. _"Oh."_ She tried to think of something to say, but only jumbled fragments rushed out of her mouth. "I-I didn't know-I just thought that-I-I mean-"

She continued to stutter, fighting to find her words when Elliot put her out of her misery. "I guess you didn't know that I liked you," he said, smiling shyly.

"Uh, yeah," she told him, fighting not to fidget and reach for a section of her hair to chew on. She'd been making good progress trying to get rid of that habit, but the urge would creep up sometimes. Especially times when she got nervous. Like now.

"I know this might be kind of weird, but I really like you, and I wanted to go on just one date with you before I left."

"Elliot-"

"Look, Ally, maybe you don't feel the same way about me right now, but can't you give me a chance to convince you?"

Ally thought back to the conversation she had with Trish the other day during lunch. She had been sure Elliot didn't have any feelings for her (which meant now Trish was allowed to tell her she told her so). She had also promised herself she wouldn't use him to get over Austin. But here he was asking her out on a date. Funny how the universe worked sometimes.

"Elliot, I don't-" She spoke up to say no, when he interrupted her again.

"Please, Ally-cat?"

He stared at her with his pleading blue eyes and she found that she couldn't say no.

What if she went out with him, and not in order to get over Austin? For all she knew, maybe she'd actually come to like him. And if she got over Austin while she fell for Elliot, then that'd be great too. The possibility floated around in the back of her mind. Still, she had her doubts. Finally, she settled on an answer.

"Can I think about it?"

The pleading look was gone and now Elliot was smiling broadly. "Definitely! Just let me know when you're free."

Ally interrupted before he could say anything else. "You know, that wasn't a yes, right?"

His smile grew wider. "Yeah. But it wasn't a no either."

With that, he leaned in and gave Ally a light kiss on the cheek, catching her by surprise. "Bye, Ally!" He turned and made his way to the exit, grinning from ear to ear.

Ally placed her fingers over her cheek where his lips had just touched, blushing. She had thought he'd left, but then his voice piped up again from Sonic Boom's entrance, and she was caught off guard a second time.

"Oh. Hey, Austin."

Ally looked up to see her wide-eyed blond friend. "Hey," he said slowly.

"I actually have to get going, but I'll see you around. Bye!"

Ally watched as Elliot's figure disappeared into the busy afternoon mall crowd and turned back to face Austin, who had made his way into the store.

"H-hey, Austin," she stuttered awkwardly, "I thought you were out with Kira." She tried to play it cool, but she was having a hard time trying to force the blood out of her red cheeks.

"I was, but I told her I wanted to work some more on the new song so I came here," he replied, but he wasn't about to let what just happened drop. "Did he just kiss you on the cheek?" He pointed between her and where Elliot had been standing mere moments before, his expression something between confused and annoyed.

"Uh, yeah, I guess he did. Hey, so you said you wanted to work on the song? Why don't we head to the practice room?" She grabbed his arm, ready to change the subject, but when she made to walk to the stairs, Austin remained firmly planted in place.

"But why would he kiss you on the cheek?" he asked, pulling is arm back so she standing by the counter again.

"Uh, I don't know. I mean he _is_ from Massachusetts. I heard people from there can be kind of strange," she said as she looped a circle by her ear using her index finger. She searched for an excuse, desperately hoping he'd let it go. "I bet it's just a thing they do up there. So how about that song?"

Her hoping was in vain though because Austin definitely wasn't ready to drop the subject. "Ally," he started, his brows furrowing further, "what's going on?"

She sighed, realizing her attempts were futile.

"Elliot asked me out."

"He asked you out?" The shock was evident in his voice.

Ally eyed him with an irked expression. "Well, you don't have to sound so surprised."

"No, no, it's not that. But," he couldn't think of anything to say, so instead he repeated, "he asked you out?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah, just before he left."

He didn't say anything after that, and his lack of response unnerved her a bit, which she thought was weird considering the fact they were friends. Best friends. Telling him about something as trivial as a guy asking her out shouldn't have felt weird. They told each other everything. Heck, before he began dating Kira, every time he succeeded in getting a girl's number she'd celebrate with him. Of course, this was also before she'd discovered she had feelings for him. But he didn't need to know that.

Austin's own thoughts sped through his mind. Elliot (well, he'd never admit it out loud, but he'd recently come to start calling him _Smelliot _in his head) asked Ally out on a date? The thought was so absurd he felt like laughing. But there was an inexplicable feeling of dread pooling in the pit of his stomach. Which was strange because they were friends. Best friends. He should've been happy for her.

Here was a guy that she had a lot in common with that seemed like a decent, generally nice guy. And they were good friends. Considering all the bad luck Ally had had with boys (especially after what she'd told him while they were writing their new song) he should've been ecstatic that a good guy, like Elliot, had taken an interest in her. Because he was her best friend, and he wanted her to be happy. And when she was happy, so was he. So why was that feeling of dread growing?

"Did you say yes?" he finally asked.

"No." Her response elicited trumpets of victory from within him (also inexplicable). "But I told him I'd think about it." The sounds died and were replaced by a wave of disappointment.

"Wait, you aren't actually thinking about agreeing to go out with him, are you?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, at first I was just going to say no. But he worked up the courage to ask me on a date. He told me he liked me and said he just wanted a chance. Shouldn't I at least give him that?"

"Uh, no!" he exclaimed childishly. The disappointment had morphed into irritation, and he suddenly couldn't control the words coming out of his mouth. "He's had almost two weeks to ask you out, but he did it just a few days before he has to leave. Doesn't that seem a little suspicious?"

"Maybe he was nervous. I mean, asking out an old friend probably isn't the easiest thing to do."

"Yeah, but what kind of guy wants to start a relationship right as he's about to leave the girl? What if he just wants to get lucky while he's on vacation and then fly back home like nothing happened?"

She rolled her eyes at his claim. "Elliot's not that kind of person."

"Are you sure?" he asked heatedly. "You haven't seen the guy in like two years! For all you know, he could've totally changed! Maybe these past two weeks he's been totally fooling you!"

"Austin, you don't know him like I do. Elliot's a good guy! He'd never do something like that."

"Then why were you going to say no?"

_Because I like you!_

Ally didn't actually say that out loud, but the admission rang through her head and pulsed against her ears. She liked Austin. She liked him and she was in far too deep now to dig herself out. But he was with Kira, and if she didn't try to get over him now, she'd end up buried in her feelings.

"Because I don't think I like him the way he likes me."

"Then why would you consider saying yes to him?"

"Maybe I don't like him now, but things can change. And he was brave enough to do something about his feelings. That's more than a lot of guys are willing to do," she told him. "He deserves a chance."

"Ally-"

"I don't even know if I'm going to say yes, Austin. Why do you care so much?"

"Because-" he found he didn't know how to answer her question.

Why was he so upset over this? Elliot was still going to leave in a few days. Ally hadn't even said yes to him. This whole conversation shouldn't even have been taking place. He should've told her he was happy for her and moved on. But he was still hung up over it. The idea of Ally and Elliot on a date made his blood boil. Why couldn't she see this wasn't right?

"Because," he said again, "I'm looking out for you! I don't want you to get hurt!"

"I'm not going to get hurt Austin. You don't have to protect me."

"Ally, don't go out with him. I just have this feeling you shouldn't."

She sighed heavily. She never liked fighting with Austin, but he was beginning to make it really hard to keep her cool. "Whether you want me to or not, I'm making this decision on my own."

"Ally, please?"

Uh-oh. He was giving her that look. The puppy-dog eyes and sad pouty-lips look. Except he wasn't exaggerating the look like he usually did to get what he wanted. He was genuinely upset, and his eyes begged her to listen to him. Which made it even harder for her not to agree with what he wanted.

Turning away, she tore her gaze from his eyes. She couldn't keep letting her emotions rule her like this. How many times had she been taken advantage of because she was too nice? Or because her feelings got in the way of her better judgment? Especially her feelings for Austin. She had to get over him. Not only because he had a girlfriend, but for herself too. He was happy in his relationship, and she didn't want to ruin what he had with Kira. But she couldn't keep waiting around for him, continuing to get hurt either.

She swallowed thickly with her eyes closed, trying to clear her head, still turned away from him. "I can choose for myself, Austin."

There was a pause in their conversation, but the air was charged, like lightning would strike at any moment.

"Fine," he said, breaking the silence. "I-I just remembered I have something to do. We can work on the song later." His voice was lower than before.

"Sure," she responded curtly. She could hear his footsteps as he walked out of the store until they became fainter and finally disappeared.

_This was the right thing to do_, she thought to herself. She was on the path to getting over Austin and the first step was to stop letting her feelings for him control her. Step two, however, left her with conflicting feelings.

She walked back over to the cash register and picked up her cell phone from underneath the counter. Scrolling through her contacts, when she finally found the person she was looking for, she pressed the little call icon on the screen and brought the phone to her ear, hearing the ringing through the receiver. After a few seconds, someone answered.

"Ally?"

"Hey, Elliot. I think I'm free Saturday night. Did you still want to go on that date?"

* * *

"Austin? I thought you were going to work on your new song with Ally." Kira took a seat on the park bench next to him, folding her hands in her lap. "Your text didn't say anything but 'meet me at the park.' What's wrong?"

"Ally and I got into a fight," he said, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Seriously? What happened?"

"I went to Sonic Boom so we could work on the song like I told you, and then I saw Elliot kiss her on the cheek. When I asked her about it, she told me he asked her out."

"Okay. Then what happened?"

"Then I asked if she said yes and she said she told Elliot she'd think about it."

"Alright, but what did you guys fight about?" she asked, getting more and more confused.

"I told her not to go out with him."

"Really? Why? Ally and Elliot have been hanging out a lot lately. They seem like they'd make a good couple."

"But they wouldn't!" Austin exclaimed suddenly. He took his hands from his face. "Sure they have lots in common, and he seems like a good guy, but he isn't right for her!"

"Hey, calm down." Kira put her hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you want them to go out with each other?"

"Because, he-he's-" Unable to answer, Austin let a frustrated sigh escape from his lips. He took a moment to collect himself before answering her question. "Ally deserves better than someone him."

A thought occurred to Kira.

"You mean someone who's always there for her? Someone who can be her best friend?"

"Yeah."

"Someone that knows her better than anyone else? And can get her to try new things?"

"Exactly! Not just some old friend from camp. Elliot isn't right for her. A lot of guys aren't."

"But you are."

Austin's head turned at her words. _"What?"_

"A lot of guys aren't right for Ally, but you are," she repeated knowingly.

"Kira, that's crazy. I already told you, I don't-"

"Like Ally as more than a friend?" she finished for him. "You guys are just friends and songwriting partners? Nothing more?"

"Yes! Ally and I don't like each other like that."

"Austin," she started, "I know you keep telling me that, but I think you like Ally. As more than just a friend."

"That's ridiculous. You're like the perfect girl for me! You like pancakes, and play the guitar. You like horror movies and playing videogames. See?"

"Just because you have a lot in common with someone doesn't mean you're perfect for each other. You said Ally and Elliot have a lot in common, but you don't think they should be together."

"Yeah, but-"

"Austin, ever since Elliot started hanging out with Ally, you've been acting strange. I thought it was because you didn't have time to write songs with Ally like you usually did, but you guys started working on a new song and you're still acting weird. Actually, you've been acting jealous."

"But I'm not-"

"You like Ally, Austin. A lot. I think you should tell her and work this all out."

"But I'm dating _you._ I like you."

"And I like you too, but I think we both know you and Ally have something that's more special than what's between the two of us."

"Kira-"

"Don't worry, Austin. I'm not upset. Actually, I'm pretty glad my first instinct about you and Ally liking each other was right."

"So you're breaking up with me?" he asked sadly.

Kira nodded. "Let's stay friends, though. After all, you're still going to be working for my dad, right?" She got up, ready to leave, when she turned to say one last thing. "Figure out your feelings for Ally. And tell her. I think you guys would be good together." She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "Bye, Austin. Good luck."

Austin sat on the park bench for a while after Kira had left. Did he like Ally? Sure, they were really good friends. And they made great music together. They were always there for each other, and they knew each other better anyone else did. And he could always get her to try new things. Just like Kira said. He groaned in frustration, ruffling his hair with his fingers before throwing his head back and leaning heavily against the bench.

Did he like Ally, he asked himself again. The first time he considered it, Ally had mentioned it casually at Mini's. They had been thinking about Dez and Trish's relationship (which turned out to be nonexistent).

"_They'd feel the same way if we were dating,"_ she had said.

How had he replied? _"You and me? Psh, that'd be weird."_

And it would be weird. Him and Ally dating? There were no two people on the earth that were more different (okay, maybe that was kind of an exaggeration, but still).

He couldn't like Ally. That was impossible. And he definitely wasn't jealous of stupid Smelliot.

Sighing, he got up, ready to make his way home. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

**AN: Hello, readers! Looks like we've got some drama going down. This chapter was actually a lot harder for me to write than I thought it was going to be, but I think it ended up okay. Could've been better, but I'm never 100% happy with my work.**

**If you guys can't tell, the story is beginning to wrap up, especially with _Campers & Complications _airing ****next week and all. I wanted to finish this before the episode came out so the canon stuff didn't affect all my headcanon stuff. Does that make sense? But I digress. Point is, expect for this to be finishing soon. And then my AU fic_, Roman Holiday_, is going to start picking up, so be on the look out for that! **

**Thanks again to everyone who's reading! Oh, and if there are any readers from Massachusetts, sorry! I didn't mean what I wrote about you in here!**

**I hope you liked it! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	7. Restless Nights & Realizations

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

* * *

It was a sleepless night for Austin. Part of the reason was because of his breakup with Kira. He definitely hadn't been expecting that, but he wondered why he wasn't more upset over it than he actually was. The bigger reason why he couldn't sleep was because of what Kira had told him.

She broke up with him because she thought he had feelings for someone else. Not just any someone else, but _Ally._ His dorky, brainy, awkward songwriter/best friend Ally. But hadn't he made it clear that he didn't like her? Why in the world would he have been dating Kira if he had feelings for Ally? Clearly, they were just friends. The measures Ally took to help him go on a date with Kira in the first place proved that.

She had also claimed that he was acting jealous. Jealous of _Elliot_ of all people! Why in the world would he be jealous of him? He was just upset that Ally hadn't had time for songwriting with Elliot around all the time. Then why was he still upset after they had started working on their new song? And why had he gotten into that fight with her when she told him Elliot had asked her out on a date?

His questions remained unanswered and continued to swirl around his head as he tossed and turned on his mattress. It couldn't be because he had feelings for Ally. Austin could clearly remember how he had reacted when he read Ally's songbook and mistakenly thought she had had a crush on him. He was utterly shocked. Not that Ally wasn't a great girl, but he didn't want to ruin what was between them. After all, things had been working out great since they had become partners. Why ruin something that already worked so well?

That still didn't explain why he hadn't wanted Ally to go on that date with Elliot. He had told her he was just trying to protect her. Ally deserved better than some guy that asked her out on a date only to skip town the next day. She had told him that she could make her own decisions. But why couldn't she see that Elliot was clearly the wrong choice for her? He was... he was- Austin took a moment to think, but he struggled to come up with a reason why they shouldn't date.

Elliot was nice. He was an old friend of hers. He knew Ally really well, maybe even better than Austin did. He had a lot in common with her. They were both terrible dancers. They both loved crafting. They both hated the beach. They both liked school. Hadn't this been the kind of guy Ally had been waiting for? She had even told him how she'd had a lot of experience with one-sided crushes. This was her chance to break out of that and finally be with a guy that made her happy.

_But he wouldn't make her happy_, a voice said in the back of his mind. It was the same voice that he heard during his fight with Ally. He just had this feeling that she shouldn't be with him. He couldn't explain it. _He isn't right for her_, the voice called again.

"_But you are."_ It was Kira's voice this time, saying what she had said right before she broke up with him. _"A lot of guys aren't right for Ally, but you are."_

The voice in his head didn't speak up again to object. But that couldn't have been right. He-he couldn't have been the one for Ally, could he? He pushed the thought away. He was beginning to feel a massive headache coming on.

What he needed right now was sleep. If he kept thinking he was afraid his head would explode. Burying his head back into his pillow, Austin forced his eyes shut. Whatever he was thinking about, it wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he willed himself to fall asleep. Soon, he found himself drifting off, vaguely making out the image of a familiar pair of sweet brown eyes beaming at him as he fell asleep.

* * *

Ally started her day at work with mixed feelings. She was still upset over her fight with Austin from the night before. That was the last time she had spoken to him too. She hadn't seen him that upset in a really long time. It worried her. The night before, she had considered calling him and apologizing for the fight, but there was a part of her that would stop herself each time. She needed this. Moving on from Austin would be good for her. She could totally do this. At least that's what she tried to convince her.

There was also her date with Elliot to think about. After calling him, he had excitedly told her that he'd meet her that night and Ally couldn't help feeling slightly guilty when she heard the enthusiasm is his voice. She wished she could feel the same way, but she told herself that she'd be excited when she met him that night. At least, she hoped she did. There was still a small part of her that was telling her she should've gone with her original plan and said no, but she didn't have the heart to cancel on Elliot. He still deserved a chance.

Lost in her thoughts, Ally hadn't even noticed Trish walking into the store.

"Ally? _Ally!_"

Trish's sharp voice cut into Ally's internal deliberating, making her jump.

"Trish!" she exclaimed, blinking hard a few times to clear her head. "When did you get here? Why are you yelling at me?"

"I walked in a few minutes ago and you were totally spaced out. I had to call your name like five times."

Ally sighed. "Sorry. I've just got a lot on my mind. Especially after last night."

"Really? What happened last night?" Trish asked, leaning against the counter.

"It's kind of a long story."

Trish shrugged her shoulders in response. "I've got time."

"Are you sure?" Ally asked. "Don't you have to get to work?" Instead of replying to Ally's question, Trish just gave her a look, one of her eyebrows arched and raised high. "Right," Ally said, understanding.

"So," Trish continued, "what happened?"

Remaining silent for a moment, Ally gathered her thoughts before deciding how to explain everything to Trish. "Remember how during lunch a few days ago you asked me what I'd do if Elliot asked me out?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Elliot asked me out."

Ally winced when Trish let a small shriek escape her lips. She proceeded to do a little jig out of giddiness for her friend.

"I knew it! I told you so! I. Told. You. So!" she yelled happily, enunciated each word. "So, when's the date?"

"Trish, I haven't even told you how I answered yet."

Trish froze in the middle of her victory dance. "Wait, you said no?" she asked, not bothering to disguise her disappointment.

Ally bit her lip. "Well not _exactly-_"

"So you did say yes!"

Hesitantly, Ally nodded her head and Trish proceeded with her dance. "Could you hold still? I really wanted to talk to you about this."

"What's there to talk about?" she asked excitedly. "You're going on a date! I'm so happy for you!"

"It's actually a lot more complicated than that."

Hearing Ally's worried tone, she Trish stopped her dancing and calmed down. "What do you mean it's complicated?"

"I kind of got into a fight with Austin."

"What does that have to do with you going on a date with Elliot?"

"He was acting really weird. And when I told him Elliot asked me out he wanted me to turn Elliot down."

Just thinking back on the argument made Ally upset. To be honest, the two of them hadn't really fought like that before. Sure sometimes they'd get mad or annoyed, but they'd usually forgive each other within the hour and things would go back to normal. But it was different this time and it left Ally with an uneasy feeling.

"Austin didn't want you to go on a date with Elliot?"

She turned her attention back to Trish, nodding her head as she answered. "That's what he told me."

"Did he seem jealous?"

Trish's question caught Ally off guard a bit. "Why in the world would he be jealous?"

"Oh, I don't know," Trish drawled sarcastically. "Maybe because the girl of his dreams is going on a date with a really cute guy?"

Ally gave her friend a pointed look. "How many time have we been over this, Trish? Austin doesn't like me! He's dating Kira."

"Then why would he tell you not to go out with Elliot? Doesn't that seem kind of suspicious?"

Ally shrugged her shoulders. "Austin doesn't always think things through. Maybe he was just acting on some strange impulse."

A skeptical expression crept onto Trish's face. "Something tells me it was more than just some impulse."

"I don't know, Trish. I'm not even sure if I should go on this date! I feel like I'm leading Elliot on. I was actually planning on saying no, but he said he just wanted a chance. And I said yes because I thought he deserved it."

"Are you sure you didn't say yes for any other reasons?"

That guilty feeling she got when she was on the phone with Elliot was back. "Well…" She found she couldn't really answer.

"Ally, calm down. You're going to have a great time! Just focus on Elliot and forget about Austin. You deserve this date too."

She didn't completely believe in Trish, but Ally figured there wasn't much she could do about it now.

"Maybe."

"You're going on a date, Ally?" a third voice interrupted them.

Turning to face the entrance of Sonic Boom, Ally and Trish saw Dez standing by the doors, sipping a smoothie through a straw.

"Actually, she is," Trish replied for her.

"Dez," Ally asked, her brows furrowing, "how long have you been standing there?"

"Huh," Dez started, looking around where he was standing. "I don't know. I swear I was just standing outside of Fruity Smoothie." Suddenly his eyes widened comically. "You don't think the aliens transported me here, do you?"

They girls stared at him strangely for a moment before Trish decided to ignore him and turned back to speak to Ally.

"So what are you and Elliot doing tonight?"

"He said he'd meet me here at six. We're going out for dinner at Grant's Grill."

"I'm so excited for you! You have to tell me everything when it's over!"

"Me too!" Dez piped up again. "I love Grant's Grill! Try the new appetizer and let me know what you think! I want to try it, but I don't want to order it if it isn't any good."

The confused looks came back, but Ally didn't really want to dampen his mood. So she simply replied, "Sure thing, Dez."

Ally still wasn't convinced this date was a good idea, but she at least needed to give it a shot, right? She needed to forget about Austin tonight. This would be good for her. Well, she really hoped it would be.

* * *

For the first time in a while, Austin had stayed home on a Saturday. Usually he was out with his friends, or playing a concert, and recently he'd been going out with Kira. But today, he had no plans. And he didn't really want to go to Sonic Boom and meet his friends. When he woke up that morning, he found that he was still as confused as ever and he didn't think going to see Ally would make things any clearer. Instead he had stayed home, trying to keep his mind _off_ of Ally. He played his guitar. He played video games. He tried to make something to eat. And when what he made turned out to be burnt mess, he heated up leftovers from dinner the night before and ate that instead.

Now, he was lying in bed, staring at the blank ceiling. He willed his mind to go blank too, but it wasn't working. The whole entire day, even though he had tried so hard, all he could think about was Ally. So he had resorted to staring at the ceiling in silence. He couldn't even listen to music because it reminded him of her. How could one girl completely turn his life upside down? And when did that one girl turn out to be Ally Dawson? Austin scrubbed at his face with his hands exasperatedly. He couldn't remember the last time his thoughts were this jumbled. Maybe that time he played Scrabble with Ally and all of her words turned out to be at least three syllables long. It gave him a massive headache trying to read all the words on the board.

There he went again, thinking about her! He needed a distraction. Any kind of distraction. He was going to drive himself crazy with his constant internal dialogue.

"Hey, Austin."

Speaking of distractions. Austin got up from his bed and saw Dez sitting on his windowsill.

"Dez! What's up?"

His redheaded friend shrugged before swinging his legs through the window and entering Austin's room. "Nothing really. I think I was abducted by aliens today. They transported me from Fruity Smoothie to Sonic Boom!"

"Great! That sounds awesome," he said a bit too enthusiastically.

Dez caught on, finding his best friend's behavior strange. "Are you okay? I haven't seen you at all today and you're acting kind of weird."

_"What?"_ he asked in a high-pitched voice. "I'm fine! Couldn't be better."

Dez eyed him skeptically, and Austin let out a sigh, not able to keep up the act.

"Alright, so maybe things could be a lot better." Austin sat back down on his bed heavily and sighed.

"What's up?"

"Kira broke up with me."

"Seriously?" Dez asked. "That's rough, buddy."

"Yeah, but you'd never guess why she broke up with me. She thinks that I have feelings for Ally! Isn't that crazy?"

"No."

Austin was taken aback by his reply and took a moment to collect his thoughts before asking a question. "You don't think that Kira thinking I like Ally is crazy?"

"Nope," Dez replied again calmly.

"Why not?"

"Because you like Ally."

Austin let out a groan and fell back onto his bed, covering his face with his hands. "Why does everyone keep saying that?" His voice came out muffled from underneath his hands.

"Because you do."

"But what if I don't!"

"Seriously, Austin?" Dez asked, giving him a doubtful look. "Don't you think it's about time you admit it? Denial is only going to come back to bite you in the butt."

"But I don't like Ally!"

"Are you sure? Have you really thought about it?"

"Yes! We're just friends! There's nothing else too it!" he cried desperately.

"No, like really, _really_ thought about it. Why do you think everyone keeps saying you like Ally?"

Austin contemplated the idea. Why _did_ everyone think that? He thought back to his conversation with Kira from the night before.

"_I think you like Ally,"_ she had said. _"As more than just a friend."_

As more than just a friend? But that's all that they were to each other! Ever since the beginning! Okay, well maybe not since the beginning. At first they were just partners. Ally had agreed to help him write songs and make his dream of being a famous singer come true. But along the way, they had started hanging out all the time and helping each other. And then he thought about how whenever Ally was happy so was he, especially when he was the one that put that smile on her face. And whenever she was sad, he could feel it too, like a million daggers piercing him. When had they made the jump from partners to best friends? Thinking back, he couldn't really say.

Actually, thinking back, he didn't know how he had ever gotten along without her. Had there really been a time in his life when he hadn't known her at all? Had he really once thought that he could make it without her? And suddenly he realized that he _couldn't_ make it without her. Just like their song. She wasn't just his songwriter. She was there whenever he needed someone to talk to. She always supported him, front row at all of his concerts. She knew how to keep him grounded. She was always there for him no matter how stupid or reckless he was. And he needed her by his side.

The way she made his stomach flip. The way she'd make him feel like he was flying when they were singing together. The way she made him forget about everything and everyone else except her. Some of these things he just couldn't explain. She was _Ally. _That was the best explanation he could offer. But maybe he didn't need an explanation. He needed her. It was a fact. It didn't really matter why, just that he did. He needed her and-

A thought dawned on him, paralyzing him. "I like Ally." The realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. It was quick and he didn't completely register it at first, but then he could feel the shock. But it wasn't painful. Quite the opposite actually.

Dez snorted from his seat at Austin's desk. "Well that took you long enough."

"I like Ally," he repeated, letting his words sink in. Saying the words out loud sent a strange sensation though him. He imagined this must be what floating felt like. And then he was falling again. "Oh, my God! How could I have been so stupid?"

"You said it, dude, not me."

Austin quickly hopped out of his bed, beginning to pull on his sneakers and trying to find his jacket. " I need to find her!" But Dez remained in his seat, lounging leisurely in Austin's chair.

"Do you really think telling her in the middle of her date is such a good idea?"

Austin froze in the middle of his frantic dressing. _"What?"_

Dez glanced at his wristwatch. "Yup, it's already six fifteen. Ally said she and Elliot were going on their date at six. They should be at Grant's Grill by now."

"Why didn't you tell me that _before_?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Hey, don't blame me! You're the one that took forever to realize you were in love with your best friend!"

"I didn't even know she'd agreed to go out with him. We got into a fight over it last night, but she said she didn't know whether or not she was going to say yes yet."

"Well did your really think she was going to wait for you forever?"

"No, I just-She said she didn't even know if she liked him."

"You were going out with Kira this whole time. If Ally had feelings for you, I don't think she would've wanted to tell you while you were dating someone else. Maybe she thought it was time to meet someone else."

"But he's not right for her!"

"Then you need to tell her that! Go before it's too late!"

"I will! I'm going to find her and tell her," he said resolutely. He turned his attention back to his friend. "Thanks a lot, Dez. Really."

"Get out of here! Your girl is probably sharing an appetizer with some other guy right now!"

Austin grinned at him one last time and ran out of his bedroom. He finally knew how he felt about Ally. Now she needed to know. It was time to finally make things right.

* * *

Austin made a mad dash all the way to the mall from his house and finally found himself in the parking lot of Grant's Grill. He took a moment to catch his breath. He was sure he probably looked like a maniac running down the street, but he couldn't care less. He was only a few steps away from the entrance. Only a few steps away from finally letting Ally know how he felt. He couldn't tell if he was more excited or nervous. Probably a bit of both, but he felt like he was going to faint. It didn't help that his breathing still hadn't returned to normal yet.

Finally, he walked determinedly to the front doors of the restaurant. Nothing could stop him now. Nothing was going to get in his way. Nothing-

He stopped dead in his tracks. There, sitting on a bench by the doors was the last person he thought he'd see out here.

"_Elliot?"_

Elliot looked up from where he had been staring at the sidewalk. "Oh. Hey, Austin." He didn't look all that surprised to see him.

"What are you doing out here? Where's Ally?"

He gave Austin a knowing look, but it looked like there was a smile underneath it. A sad smile, but still a smile. "You just missed her. She left."

* * *

**AN: Hello! I realize I'm just a tad bit late updating this, but I hope you guys don't hold it against me. I was flipping out over _Campers & Complications! _Give me a break! **

**Anyways, about the chapter: Man, I really wish I could've done this better... It felt so repetitive, but I was just trying to reinforce Austin and Ally's thoughts and try to show their feelings... But it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. On the bright side, Austin finally realized his feelings! Hallelujah! About time, right? And I left a cliffhanger for you guys at the end. Where did Ally go? Will Austin find her in time and tell her his feelings? Find out next week on _Impossible_! (Insert cheesy theme song here.) **

**Thanks to everyone who's reading!**

**I hope you liked this chapter! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	8. Dates & Decisions

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

* * *

"Wow, Ally. You look great."

Ally blushed and stared down at the red dress she had chose to wear. It was her favorite color and she thought it'd boost her mood for the date. However, it wasn't quite working as well as she had hoped. There were still doubts lingering in the back of her mind along with her fight with Austin. Several times she had wanted to call him and maybe even cancel her plans with Elliot, but she urged herself to keep those thoughts at bay. Tonight wasn't about Austin and she refused to let him get in her way of having a good time.

Finally she looked back up to meet Elliot's eyes and smiled shyly. "You're just saying that."

He took a step closer to her and took one of her hands in his. "You were never any good at taking compliments," he said, grinning at her.

Ally's eyes landed on their interlocking hands. Why did something about this feel off? Her mind raced back to a memory of her on a bridge while she held someone else's hand. A tall, blond, brown-eyed, Internet sensation's hand. Who also just happened to be her best friend. And how she could feel each callous on his fingers from his constant guitar playing. And how he held her hand gently, so he wouldn't hurt her, but firmly too, like he had no intention of letting go. And how perfectly her hand fit into his. And how holding Elliot's just didn't feel the same.

Suddenly registering what her subconscious was thinking, she forced those thoughts somewhere deep within her where they wouldn't be able to randomly pop up. The date hadn't even started yet and she was already letting herself get caught up in her feelings.

"Sorry," she apologized, but she thought it was probably for more than not being able to take the compliment. "Thanks. You look great too."

And he did. Ally didn't know if Elliot had packed nice clothes with him for his vacation or if he had gone out shopping, but the blue dress shirt he was wearing really brought out his eyes. Or maybe that was just his million-watt smile shining in them.

"I was thinking we could walk over to Grant's Grill? It's not that far from here, and I thought he could talk on our way over."

"Sounds great."

The pair left Sonic Boom, their hands swinging between them as they walked.

After Trish and Dez left, Ally spent a lot of time thinking about what Trish had told her. Had Austin really been acting jealous? For all she knew, maybe he had been telling the truth and he was just looking out for her. But that didn't make sense. Why in the world would Austin think Elliot was a bad guy? She'd been there every time the two of them had talked to each other and nothing ever seemed out of the ordinary.

So was he jealous? Austin jealous of Elliot? That was a ridiculous thought. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Nope, this wasn't the time to be worrying about this, she told herself.

For a few minutes, they walked in silence while Ally was lost in thought, when Elliot noticed her shaking her head.

"You okay?"

Ally turned her head to face him when she heard his voice. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Really? Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," she said, shaking her head again. "Let's talk about something else. How was your day?"

"Pretty good, actually. I went back to the beach and I took a surf lesson." He chuckled a bit. "I was pretty bad at it though. I think I spent more time in the water than I did on the board."

Ally laughed along with him.

"That reminds me of this one time I was at the beach. Austin-" she stopped short when she realized whose name she'd said out loud. Hadn't she just told herself she wanted to get her mind off of him?

"What about Austin?" Elliot asked from beside her.

Ally was hesitant to reply. She hadn't wanted to bring up Austin, especially since she had agreed to go out with Elliot so she could try getting over him at the same time. But maybe it'd be better to get him out of her system. For all she knew, maybe talking about him would stop her thoughts from wandering back to him.

"Austin offered to teach me how to surf because I mentioned to him that I didn't know how. So we went to the beach and he brought his board and put it on the sand so he could show me how to paddle out and everything. But every time I'd try to stand, I'd lose my balance, even though the board wasn't even on the water." She smiled at the memory. "We ended up not even going out onto the water because I was having such a hard time. He was a good sport, though. And every time I lost my balance he'd catch me."

"He seems like a nice guy."

She suddenly remembered her conversation with Austin in the practice room when they had been working on their song. She had said the same exact thing. "Yeah, he is. There's this one time an old classmate of mine wanted to humiliate me by making me perform on stage even though I have horrible stage fright. I was about to have a panic attack once I got on stage, but then Austin ran up and performed the song for me. That was a really nice of him to do."

"You guys really are close, huh? Just like you said before."

"Well, yeah. He's my best friend," she faltered for a moment, remembering their fight. "We'd do anything for each other."

"So," Elliot started, noticing Ally's sudden change in mood, "is it cool being best friends with a rock star?"

Ally covered her mouth with her hand so she could hide her snort from Elliot.

"Rock star?" she asked incredulously. "Sure, Austin's talented, but to me he's not really a rock star. He's just a guy that has a strange love for pancakes. And horror movies. And really loves music. And he's a big kid at heart." A half smile settled on her lips. "Maybe to everyone else he's a rock star, but he's more to me than that."

Elliot watched Ally carefully as they walked.

"He's more to you than just a rock star?"

"Yeah. And he's more than just a partner too. I mean, he kind of turned my life upside down, but I'm really glad he did."

"It seems like you've changed since you met him."

"Maybe a little. I think I'm braver now, even if I still have my stage fright," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't really think he's changed me though. He just helped me realize who I am. Like before, I just wrote songs for myself, and no one would ever hear them. But with him, there are people that can actually listen to songs that I write. I never even dreamed that that could ever happen. And now, I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't share my music."

"So you've changed for the better?"

"Yeah. I think I'm better with him by my side."

And she knew that deep inside of her, she was right. Would she be as happy as she was now if he hadn't accidentally stolen her song and then asked her to be is partner? For once, she was glad that Austin had a habit of disobeying signs. If he didn't, then he never would've snuck into the practice room that day. Funny how the universe worked sometimes.

They continued for a few more steps without speaking when he spoke up again.

"How's the songwriting coming along, by the way? I know you've been busy for a few days working on it."

"We've got some of it done, but there's still a lot left to finish," she replied. "Austin and I need to find some more time to work on it." She suddenly remembered her fight with Austin again. Were they ever going to find time to finish the song if they kept avoiding each other? Sure she could finish writing it on her own, but something was telling her that this song was equally hers and Austin's. She couldn't do it without him.

_She couldn't do it without him._

Ally froze in her tracks, forcing Elliot to stop walking too.

"Ally, are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

She definitely wasn't fine. If she was being completely honest with herself, she was freaking out. And if she was _really_ being completely honest with herself, she knew she shouldn't have been on this date with Elliot. But even if she knew that, she wasn't going to abandon Elliot now. Not when he had gone through so much trouble for her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she lied again. "Oh, look. We're already here. Why don't we head inside?"

She made to walk in through the front doors of Grant's Grill, but Elliot's hand pulled her back.

"I don't think we're going anywhere."

"What do you mean?" she asked confusedly. "The restaurants right here." She gestured to the building with a hand to make her point, but Elliot just shook his head.

"No, I meant us. I don't think _we_ are going anywhere."

Ally's eyebrows knit together. "I still don't think I understand."

Elliot let out a sigh before taking her other hand in his and meeting her gaze. "I mean, I don't think we should be on this date because obviously you have feelings for Austin."

Ally's eyes widened comically before she stuttered out a response.

"_What?"_ she asked, her voice raising slightly and drawing out the vowel. "That's ridiculous."

Elliot raised an eyebrow at her, giving her a skeptical look. "You were never any good at lying either, Ally-cat."

Sighing, she gave in. "Okay, so maybe I do have feelings for him."

With his hand still in hers, Elliot led Ally over to the bench by the front entrance of the restaurant. Once they were seated, he spoke up again.

"Why didn't you just tell me that you liked him when I asked you out?"

"Well, I didn't want to say no to you. I honestly wanted to give you a chance." As an afterthought she added, "And I kind of told myself to get over him. He has a girlfriend, remember? Aren't I just wasting my time pining after him, when he obviously likes another girl?"

This time, Elliot snorted. "So you haven't noticed at all how jealous he's been acting?"

Ally rolled her eyes. "I really don't know why people keep telling me that. Why would he be jealous?"

"Ally," he said soberly, "last week when we were at Mini's he was about to burn a hole into my face, he was glaring so hard."

"What? I didn't see him glaring."

"Then what about when we went bowling? When he came up right between the two of us when I asked you to be my partner? And the whole time he had a huge frown on his face. Did you seriously not notice?"

"I-I…" Ally was at a loss for words. Austin couldn't have actually been acting like that.

"Wow, maybe you should go back to wearing glasses because you are _blind._"

"Hey!" she exclaimed, smacking him on the shoulder, but he only laughed good-naturedly. "I'm not blind! But maybe I haven't been very attentive lately."

"You think?"

"So what if he's been acting strange? That doesn't change the fact that he's dating Kira. And I don't want to wait around for them to break up. And I _definitely_ don't want to break them up myself. I already almost ruined their relationship before."

"Have you ever thought maybe you wouldn't have to wait around if you told Austin how you felt?"

Ally remained silent, turning the idea over in her head. "But he's so happy with her." She hadn't meant for her voice to be sad, but it sounded that way.

"Don't you think you make him happy too?"

She gave him a dry look. "That's not really the same thing."

"Come on, Ally. You helped him make his dreams come true! You're the one that got him to where he is now. Do you really think anyone can compete with that?"

"That's not totally true," she started. "It's not like I'm the only one helped him become a famous singer."

Elliot rolled his eyes. "Remember what I said earlier about you not being able to take a compliment?"

Ally blushed again, ready to make a retort, but he beat her to it.

"My point is, you shouldn't be here with me. You should be telling Austin how you feel."

She hesitated before she spoke quietly. "What if he doesn't feel the same way?"

"Then he's an idiot. And you should tell him to go jump off a bridge."

A slow smile spread across her face. "He already did that."

"He jumped off a bridge for you?" he asked incredulously. Suddenly, Elliot's own grin was playing at his lips. "Obviously, that means he likes you. So you have nothing to lose."

They both laughed a bit, and once it subsided, Ally turned to face Elliot.

"I'm sorry this didn't work out," she said sincerely. "I really wanted to give this a chance, and I ruined things before the date even started." She shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "Just goes to show how great I am at relationships, huh?"

He gave her an understanding smile. "It's okay. I wanted this to work too, but you can't help how you feel. And all I really wanted was a chance and you gave that to me. You don't have to apologize."

Their hands had long been unclasped now, but she reached over to hold his again, giving it a light squeeze. "You are going to meet a great girl. Someone who loves crafting and math and cats as much as you do. And someone who likes you as much as you like her. You deserve that."

Ally was glad to see his smile had turned warm again. "Thanks, Ally-cat."

"I think we should get going now, right."

"You go ahead," he said. "I'll head back in a bit."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah. You go and figure out how you're going to tell Austin."

The pair got up from the bench and Ally was about to turn and leave, when she went back to give Elliot a tight hug.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Elliot watched as she walked down the sidewalk and turned the corner and when he couldn't see her anymore, he sat back down heavily on the bench. There was no one around to hear him, but he felt the words leaving his lips anyways.

"Austin's a lucky guy."

* * *

_"Elliot?"_

_ "Oh. Hey, Austin."_

_ "What are you doing out here? Where's Ally?"_

_ "You just missed her. She left."_

"What do you mean Ally left?" Austin asked incredulously.

Elliot stared up at Austin from his seat on the bench. "Just that. She left about ten minutes ago."

"But Dez told me you guys left for your date at six! It isn't even six thirty yet!

Why did she leave?"

"She had some feelings she needed to sort out."

Austin turned away from him then, threading his fingers through his hair, willing himself not to yank it out. He let out a frustrated groan. He had missed her by ten minutes! His plan (albeit a rushed plan) was ruined! He needed to find her. He needed to-

"You know, you're kind of an idiot."

Elliot's voice interrupted his thoughts. Austin turned to face him suddenly, slightly baffled by what he had said. That was probably the meanest thing he'd heard him say since he met him two weeks ago. Realizing he was just gaping at him like a fish, Austin finally made to reply.

"_What?"_

"You're an idiot," Elliot repeated calmly, like it was fact that couldn't be denied. "You do all these really sweet things for a girl you call your best friend, like saving her from being humiliated and jumping off a freaking bridge for her, and you don't even realize that you like her? Sounds like you're an idiot to me."

"Hey, none of this would've been a problem if _you _hadn't shown up in the first place!"

Elliot gave Austin a skeptical look. He didn't even need to say anything to get his message across. _Really?_

A sigh escaped Austin's lips and he heavily took a seat next to Elliot on the bench. "Okay, so maybe you're right. I'm an idiot."

"So, I'm guessing you finally figured out your feelings for Ally?"

Austin nodded in response.

"Took you long enough."

He was reminded of Dez's same exact reaction. Had he really been the last one to know about his own feelings?

"How did you know?"

Elliot quirked an eyebrow at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"Was it that obvious?"

Elliot snorted. "You might as well have tattooed _I love Ally Dawson_ across your forehead. What I'm wondering is why did it take so long for you to figure it out? I mean, you hang out with Ally almost every single day. You can't be that stupid."

Austin shrugged. "I guess I just thought she'd always be there. I've only ever thought of her as my friend. But then the two of you started hanging out, and it was like you stole her away or something."

"So why didn't you realize everything when you started acting jealous?"

"I figured I was upset she didn't have time for songwriting anymore. And I was with Kira. I thought she was the perfect girl for me, but turns out even she knew I like Ally."

"Seriously?"

"She dumped me yesterday."

Elliot nodded and let out a low whistle. "Ouch."

"It actually didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I just can't believe I was so stupid. I don't even know how long I've liked her for!"

"I'm going to guess it's from the moment you met her," Eliot replied. "You may not have realized it then, but I bet you did."

Despite the fact that he was upset, Austin found himself laughing slightly.

"You're probably right." He let out another sigh. "Whenever I thought about Ally as more than just a friend, I always thought about how it might ruin things between us. Our friendship, and our careers. Is it really worth it? Nothing would be the same again. So I'd just forget about it."

"You don't think being with her is worth the risk? Then maybe you shouldn't be with her."

"But I-"

"Hey," Elliot interrupted, "I want Ally to be happy, and it seems like you're the guy that'll make that happen. But you and I both know Ally's special. If you're even a little bit hesitant, then back off now because I don't want to see her getting hurt."

"I can't believe you actually think I'd hurt her," Austin replied almost angrily.

"You don't think it could happen? She likes you. A lot. One wrong move and her heart's in pieces. If I can stop her from getting hurt now, I will."

"I'm not hesitating," Austin said. "I came over here to tell her how I feel. I want her to know."

"Are you sure about that? How much does she mean to you?"

The audacity of this guy. Who did he think he was? Was he seriously doubting what he felt for Ally? Because, if the gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach was any indication, if Austin didn't tell her soon, he was going to die (or come pretty close to it).

"I'd never hurt Ally. And I'd do anything for her. She's not like the other girls I usually want to go out with. Actually, she's nothing like them, but that's because for once I know I'll always want her by my side and I'll never leave hers. She's not some new shiny thing I'm getting caught up in the moment with. I need her! She's my everything!"

Elliot's lips turned up in a smirk. "Then why are you telling me instead of her?"

Austin's own words echoed inside of his head. _She's my everything._ An idea suddenly came to him in a rush. For a moment he was frozen in place before he scrambled up from his seat.

"I have to go! There's something I need to do."

"About time. I thought you were going to sit chatting with me for the rest of the night."

Maybe in any other case, Austin would've rolled his eyes, but he turned to face Elliot then, his expression serious.

"Thanks."

Elliot grinned at him. "Thank me after you tell Ally."

Austin gave him a nod and a smile. Then he took off again. He wasn't going to mess up this time. He was going to tell Ally how he felt. And now he knew exactly how he was going to do it.

* * *

**AN: Hello! First and foremost, I just wanted to say a _huge_ thank you to everyone who's reading! This is the first story I've posted that has reached over a hundred reviews and I just broke 13,000 views! This is an enormous milestone for me, so I wanted to say thank you times infinity from the very bottom of my heart! I love you guys so much!**

**So about the chapter: honestly, I have way too much fun writing dialogue for Ally and Elliot ****and this chapter is no exception. But then I decided to throw in a conversation between Austin and Elliot too. I just thought it wouldn't be very likely for these two to have some alone time, so I made it happen! I think it turned out pretty well... Thoughts? **

**Anyways, we're coming close to the end now, guys. I really wish it didn't have to, but every story needs a good ending, right?**

**Thanks again to everyone who's reading, whether it was since Chapter One, or you just started now. Seriously, I appreciate it so much!**

**I hope you liked this chapter! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	9. Courage & Confessions

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

* * *

"You know, you really didn't have to come all the way to the airport with me."

Ally smiled up at Elliot. The two of them were sitting in the airport terminal, waiting for his flight back home to be called. Elliot's luggage was neatly stacked next to him (all the suitcases matching, of course) and they were sitting apart from where the rest of his family was waiting.

The fluorescent lights were bright overhead and she'd never admit it, but Ally hadn't completely rid herself of the sleep in her eyes, which made it hard to look directly at anything. She even fell asleep for a bit on the car ride over to Miami International. It wasn't even six in the morning, and the sun had only just begun creeping over the horizon, but she had resolved to wake up early and say goodbye to Elliot. Still, it was early and she was tired after staying up late the night before thinking about what he had told her at the end of their date. (Could she still call it a date if they hadn't actually gone on it?) She didn't let the thought linger, instead blinking hard a few times to relieve the soreness in her eyes.

"Of course I did. Who knows when we'll be able to see each other again?" she asked, trying aimlessly to disguise her fatigue. "I had to see you off at least."

"Thanks, Ally-cat." He returned the smile before asking, "So did you finally have that talk with Austin?"

Her smile fell suddenly and an audible sigh left her lips. "Not yet."

Elliot gave her a surprised look. "Really?"

Ally nodded her head. "Yeah. I was up pretty late last night thinking about what I was going to say and I got pretty close to calling him a few times, but," she shrugged her shoulders, "I just couldn't get myself to do it. Not yet anyways."

"You mean Austin didn't talk to you?"

One of her eyebrow rose at his question. "Why would he do that?"

"No reason," Elliot amended. "I just thought maybe he'd snap back to his senses, you know?" he recovered quickly. Luckily, Ally was too tired to notice his strange behavior.

"I know I should tell him, but there's a lot of other stuff I need to work out before diving in headfirst."

"What's holding you back?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ally muttered sarcastically, leaning heavily against the plastic seat. "The fact that he has a girlfriend, and that we've been friends for so long, and that our careers are at stake, and that nothing would ever be the same again, and-"

"Okay, okay," he interrupted, "I get what you mean. But didn't you say Austin changed you for the better?"

She turned her head to look at him, a quizzical expression on her face. "Yeah, so?"

"So what would Austin do if he were in your shoes?"

"He wouldn't even think twice." Her lips lifted into a soft half-smile. "He'd dive in headfirst."

"Then maybe you should take a cue from him. Don't think about all the details like I know you always do. Just tell him how you feel."

"That's easier said than done," she said tiredly, but this time it wasn't from the lack of sleep. "There's still a part of me that's the same girl you met at camp two years ago. You know, the one that worries about everything."

"Yeah, but there's also a part of you that's braver now. You said it yourself."

Ally contemplated his suggestion. Could she really dive in head first without thinking? As much as she wanted to deny it, Elliot was right. She was still the same old Ally Dawson, but there was a new part of her, too. Braver, more confident Ally Dawson. Like when she mustered up the courage to perform on stage in costume with Austin. Thinking back on the memory, maybe it was time to take the advice in the song she had written. _Don't look down _and jump.

Suddenly she found herself nodding. "You're right. I can do this." She turned to face Elliot again. "I can do this," she repeated, more confidently this time.

Elliot's megawatt smile was back on his face. "I know you can."

Just as she was about to say something, the PA came to life overhead announcing Elliot's flight.

"I guess that's my cue to get going."

The pair stood up, and Ally leaned in to give him a hug. When they pulled away, she was smiling at him too.

"Thanks, Elliot. For everything."

"It was nothing," he said. "I'm going to miss you, Ally-cat."

"Me too. Make sure to write, okay?"

"I will and you too."

They pulled in for one last hug before saying goodbye. As Elliot grabbed his luggage and made to catch up with the rest of his family, he turned suddenly to meet Ally's eyes again.

"Something good is going to come your way really soon. I have this feeling."

Ally's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll know when it happens. Everything will work out, I promise."

She was still puzzled, but he just threw her a wink and waved one last time before heading to check-in.

* * *

Austin couldn't say how long he'd been up for, but if the soreness in his fingers from playing his guitar was any indication, he had stayed up all night.

He played the series of chords he had written on some spare sheet music again, humming a melody along with it. The paper had some measures furiously crossed out and even more smudges from erased notes, but he was so close to being done.

Ally had already written the first verse for him, but he was determined to finish it. He may not have been the best at communicating his feelings (he learned _that_ the hard way), but after his conversation with Elliot, he knew what he wanted the song to say. He knew what he wanted to tell Ally. And he kind of wanted to smack himself over the head for not realizing that the song was about her in the first place. How could he have been so dense?

Of course, that didn't mean Austin was suddenly a songwriting genius. After all, he had stayed up all night and still wasn't done yet. Once he had finished talking to Elliot, he ran all the way back home, picked up his guitar and hadn't moved from his spot at his desk since then. He was pretty sure he kept his parents up all night with his playing and singing, but he didn't care.

He was especially frustrated at that moment. After writing the chorus and the second verse he celebrated by jumping around animatedly on his bed, but when he moved on to write the bridge, he was suddenly struck with writer's block. A newfound appreciation for Ally's songwriting ability welled up inside of him. How she managed to write a new song for him almost every week, he had no idea. It was just another one of those things that he liked about her; that made her special.

Shaking his head, Austin pushed those thoughts aside. He may have figured out he liked Ally now, but he wasn't going to get anywhere daydreaming about her… and her pretty hair, and her adorable laugh, and her smile-_shoot._ He was doing it again. He mentally berated himself for not being able to see it before. She had always been there, right in front of him, and he'd never noticed. He was stupid. Really, tragically, frustratingly stupid. That was the only justifiable excuse he could come up with.

He turned back to his sheet music, staring at the lines and notes and watching them fly off the page in his vision. Had he really stayed up all night? Checking his clock to make sure, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw that it read _6:24 AM_.

Leaning back in his chair, he pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and let a tired groan escape from deep in his throat. Maybe he started this song on some whim, but now he was determined to finish it. But he quickly realized he needed help. He needed Ally.

* * *

When Ally got into the back of the taxicab and was asked what her destination was, she had initially planned on giving the driver the address to her house. It wasn't even seven yet and she could've used a few more hours of sleep. But instead she asked to be dropped off at the mall. Sure, it was Sunday and Sonic Boom would be opening later, but she figured she could use some time alone. Now that she knew she was going to tell Austin about her feelings, her stomach wouldn't stop flipping. Some time to calm down wouldn't hurt. And she definitely preferred not to throw up when she finally told him. Maybe playing the piano and working on a song would help get rid of her nerves. The piano bench was where she felt best, after all.

Upon arriving outside of the mall's entrance, Ally paid the driver and walked through the food court to get to Sonic Boom. The mall was empty just like she expected and her wedges echoed as she walked along tile floors. What she didn't expect was a passed out Austin Moon sitting at the entrance of the store.

"_Austin?"_

She leaned down worriedly and shook his shoulder, suddenly startling him awake. He jumped a bit and had to register where he was again before letting his eyes focus on Ally's face.

He rubbed his eyes trying to clear them. "Ally?" He quickly glanced at his watch before turning back to face her. "What are you doing here so early?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"I went to the airport to say goodbye to Elliot. What are _you_ doing here?" she asked, staring at him pointedly. So much for having some alone time, she thought to herself.

"I couldn't sleep."

She gave him an incredulous look. "You couldn't sleep so you came _here_? To sleep?"

Getting up, Austin dusted off his jeans and stretched. "Okay, when you put it that way, it sounds weird. But no, I didn't come here to sleep. I was waiting for you."

"For me?" she asked, her eyes widening a bit. "Why didn't you just wait until the mall was open? The store opens late on Sundays."

"Yeah, I know. I probably wasn't thinking straight. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

A dry look settled over her features. "I noticed."

He gave her a soft smile. "And I really wanted to see you."

She was silent for a moment, not sure if she heard him correctly. That and butterflies with huge wings were suddenly fluttering all around her stomach. "Oh."

There was another silent pause between the pair, when Austin finally spoke up again.

"I'm sorry," he said, his eyes meeting hers, "about our fight. And I'm sorry I told you not to go on that date with Elliot."

Ally sighed. "I'm sorry, too. I know you were just trying to be a good friend."

He shook his head. "No, I wasn't. I was being selfish and dumb, and I wouldn't blame you if you totally hated my guts after that."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Austin, don't be ridiculous. I could never hate you."

"I was stupid. Really stupid. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," she said, bring a hand to his arm and squeezing it gently. "I forgive you."

That same soft smile was back on his face. "Anyways," he started, "I didn't just come here to apologize. I actually wanted to work on the song."

"The song?"

Austin nodded in response. "You know the one we started a few days ago? I was working on it last night. That's why I didn't get any sleep."

"You were working on it? By yourself?" Ally asked, surprised.

"Yeah, and I got pretty close to finishing it, but I got stuck," he said sheepishly, his eyes glued to the floor. "I thought we could finish it," his eyes lifted back to hers, "together."

Ally watched Austin as he stared at her hopefully. She beamed at him, her grin wide and reaching her eyes. "Let's do it."

* * *

"Okay, so the only part I couldn't write was the bridge. But I figured out everything else. I used some of the melody that we wrote together and the first verse you wrote too."

The pair was settled back on the piano bench like always, their shoulders and knees pressed together. Except this time, instead of Ally doing all the talking, Austin was the one explaining the song. It was a strange role-reversal.

"Here, this is the melody I made up for the bridge." Positioning his fingers over the keys of the piano, he played a tune, and then he added the chords and played it again. "I just can't find the words."

"How did you write the rest of the song?"

Austin fought off a blush rising to his cheeks. Honestly, he had just written what had come to mind when he thought of Ally. He couldn't even tell if it was _good._ All he knew was that those words were the closest he could get to saying what he felt. But he wasn't about to admit that to Ally. Not yet, anyways. He may have started the song on some whim, but he wrote it for her.

"I wrote about how the guy would do anything for this girl. And how he wants to be everything she wants. And how stupid he was for not figuring it out earlier."

His face was probably comparable to a tomato at that point. He was glad Ally's attention was taken up by her songbook.

"Alright, so the bridge is towards the end of the song, right? I guess we should try thinking of how we want to finish it."

"It has to be a happy ending," he answered automatically. "This is the part when the guy has to really convince the girl, you know?"

"He's trying to tell the girl that it'll work out in the end?" she asked, turning to face him.

"Yeah. They're like two puzzle pieces. They just fit together."

Ally pondered over his words for a moment. "Puzzle pieces…"

She pressed down on the keys of the piano this time, replaying the tune Austin had played for her before. Humming the melody she played the chords several times before starting to whisper-sing words under her breath. She was lost in her own little world, and Austin could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Sometimes she'd stop playing the piano and go back to writing in her book, and then she'd sing a lyric out loud. He watched and couldn't help the smile from spreading across his face.

How many times had he watched her like this before? Probably too many to count. This was the Ally that he saw everyday. Sometimes klutzy and awkward, but underneath all that, there was a spark. He just hadn't noticed until now. He was going to mentally kick himself for that for the rest of his life.

"I got it!"

Her exclamation startled him out of his thoughts. She was practically bouncing next to him in her excitement.

"I got it!" she repeated, but then she added, "Okay, well I've got half of it, but I think we can figure it out from here."

"Really?"

Rather than responding, her fingers were floating over the keys again, and her voice was suddenly ringing through the practice room.

"_I can see it right now_

_You and me, we'll work out_

_Like puzzle pieces fitting perfectly_

_There's no doubt."_

"That sounds great!"

She smiled at him and Austin swore his heart leapt to his throat.

"It's only part of it," she replied modestly. "Do you have any ideas for the rest of it?"

"Actually," he started, but instead of finishing his thoughts, he started playing the melody again.

"_I can see it right now_

_You and me, we'll work out_

_Like puzzle pieces fitting perfectly_

_There's no doubt," _he repeated Ally's lyrics, and then he continued.

"_We can make it together_

_You and me forever_

_Never stopping, always rocking_

_We can be everything." _

There was a pause between the two of them, and Austin wordlessly turned to face Ally.

"What do you think?"

"That's awesome!" she said, turning to face him too. "I can't believe you made that up on the spot."

Austin let out a small laugh. "Neither can I."

"So, does that mean the song's done now?"

"I guess it does." There was another silence between them, but it was a comfortable one, and they were grinning widely at each other. "Thanks, Ally," he said finally.

"Hey, don't thank me. You wrote most of it on your own."

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you." Ally could feel the heat slowly creeping up her neck when Austin's voice caught her attention again. "So, do you want to hear it? The song, I mean."

"Yeah," Ally replied, her voice soft, "I'd love to."

Grabbing a guitar that was sitting in the corner, Austin moved one of the chairs so we was sitting right across from Ally, their knees brushing.

"I haven't actually thought of a title yet, but I guess we can call this _Your Everything."_

Austin began strumming the beginning chords, an upbeat but simple tune flowing from his fingers.

"_Every time you look my way_

_I never know what to say_

_You've got tongue twisting_

_Stomach flipping_

_Girl, you're driving me insane_

_Whenever you're with this guy_

_I can see something ain't right_

_Seeing you two makes me crazy_

_Why can't you see_

_Baby, you belong with me_

_But you're always saying_

_You and me we're just friends_

_How can I show you_

_I can be your everything?"_

Ally smiled, recognizing the lyrics that the two of them had worked on together. She found herself swaying a bit to the sound of Austin's voice, like she usually did when he sang. She listened as he began the chorus.

"_We could take a walk on the beach_

_Side by side, on the sand_

_We could sing and dance in the rain_

_Soaking wet, hand in hand_

_I could chase the stars, go near and far_

_Climb mountaintops just for you_

_If you say you'll stay by my side_

_There is nothing I won't do_

_Girl, I can do anything_

_'Cause I can be your everything."_

Austin felt a grin spreading across his lips as he sang to Ally. Had he ever just sang to her like this before? He couldn't recall a time when he had. Not just songwriting or recording, but actually singing to her. He probably wouldn't ever admit it out loud, but he liked having all of her attention. He smiled even wider when he saw that she was smiling too.

"_You make me smile all the time_

_With you I'm on cloud nine_

_Feeling like this must be a crime_

_Send me a sign_

_Please say that you'll be mine_

_I like when it's just us two_

_Nothing compares to what we've been through_

_Too bad I was so slow_

_I didn't know_

_I fell head over heels for you"_

_You always leave me breathless_

_And I was just so clueless_

_Now I wanna show you_

_I can be your everything." _

He wanted to laugh at himself a bit singing those lyrics. Slow and clueless. Those were the first words he thought of to describe himself while he was writing. He began singing the chorus again, beginning to really get into the song, and he saw that Ally was too.

She had always loved watching him perform. Every time he sang he put so much of himself into his performance. She could always feel the energy radiating from him when he was on stage. This was different though, just the two of them. It was the side of him no one else got to see.

"_I can see it right now_

_You and me we'll work out_

_Like puzzle pieces fitting perfectly _

_There's not doubt_

_We can make it together_

_You and me forever_

_Never stopping, always rocking_

_We can be everything."_

There was a feeling of satisfaction that settled over him as he sang the bridge with the rest of the song. It was nice knowing that the song was finished, and Austin quickly realized that this was the first time he was singing the song in its entirety. And Ally was the first to hear it. For the final revised chorus, he let up on his guitar playing, so it was just his voice spreading through the room. Ally felt goose bumps rising along her arms as she listened.

"_Let's take a walk on the beach_

_Side by side, on the sand_

_Let's sing and dance in the rain_

_Soaking wet, hand in hand"_

There was a slight pause, and then Austin picked up the chords again, singing with renewed energy.

"_I'll chase the stars, go near and far_

_Climb mountaintops just for you_

_Please say you'll stay by my side_

_There is nothing I won't do_

_Let's run away, you and me_

_Somewhere far, anywhere_

_The two of us, we'll be happy_

_'Til the end of time, I swear_

_Girl, I will do anything_

_'Cause I can be your everything."_

The last chord echoed throughout and then died down so all Ally could here was Austin's breathing after finishing the song.

"So… what do you think?" he asked once he had caught his breath.

Ally didn't think it was possible, but her smile grew wider. "It sounded amazing! You did a great job!"

"You really liked it?"

"I loved it. You should be really proud of yourself."

"Thanks," he replied bashfully. His breathing was back to normal now, but his heart was suddenly beating rapidly. "Actually, I… I wrote it for someone."

"Oh." Ally's voice suddenly went from upbeat to crestfallen. "I-I'm sure Kira will love it," she said, forcing her voice to be happy.

"Kira?" Austin asked confusedly. Realization dawned on him suddenly. "Oh. No. Ally, I didn't write the song for Kira."

It was Ally's turn to look confused. "You didn't?"

He shook his head. "Kira broke up with me."

Ally's eyes were suddenly wide as saucers. _"What?"_

"Kira broke up with me," he repeated. "Right after our fight I went to go talk to her and she said we'd be better off as friends."

"Oh, my gosh. Austin, I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me sooner? Seriously, we don't talk for one day and I miss out on something as important as this."

"Hey," he started, trying to make her feel better, "don't worry about it. It's not that big of a deal."

"Yes, it is! I should've been there for you regardless of our stupid argument."

Austin shrugged his shoulders. "It actually didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. And things worked out for the best."

She gave him a skeptical look. "Are you sure? No tissues or ice cream needed?"

A laugh escaped his lips at her question. "Nope, I promise."

Ally let herself laugh too after making sure he was really okay. "Wait," she started, a thought occurring to her, " so if you didn't write it for Kira, who's the song for?"

Austin's laughing stopped short at her question. "The-the song?"

"Yeah, you mentioned before that you wrote it for someone."

"Right, uh-well, the thing is-I mean," he stuttered, not able to find his words. Hadn't he found the nerve to tell her just a moment ago? "I-I wrote it for this girl."

"Oh." Ally tried to push down that panging feeling in her chest. "What's she like?"

Austin smiled despite his nerves. "She… she's amazing," he said honestly. "She's smart and pretty and really talented."

"She sounds great."

"She is. I just wish she knew how I felt about her."  
Ally put on a smile. "You should tell her. You've never had a one-sided crush before. I'm sure it won't be any different with this girl."

Austin exhaled heavily. "That's the thing though. This girl is different than any of the girls I've liked before. She's special."

"Then you should tell her. Dive in headfirst and don't look down," she said, remembering her conversation with Elliot.

He gave her a surprised look. "That doesn't look like advice Ally Dawson would give," he said, a smile in his voice.

"I know, but I'm braver now, right? It's time to take a chance," she said. She couldn't tell if she was telling that to Austin or herself.

"Yeah, don't look down," he replied thoughtfully, his eyes meeting hers.

Before she could really think it through, Ally made a decision.

"Austin, I like you."

Austin was suddenly ripped from his thoughts at her words. For a second, he wondered if he heard her correctly. "I-you-" He stopped his stuttering so he could say something coherent. Not quite sure what to say, he settled for, _"What?_"

"Look," Ally started wringing her hands nervously, not able to meet his gaze, "I know this sounds crazy, especially since you just got out of a relationship and because you're telling me about this other great girl that you wrote this song for, but I like you. I think I've liked you for a long time. But then you started dating Kira and the timing was just never right, but I figured that I'm braver now and I should just dive in headfirst and tell you how I feel because I like you. A lot. And I don't want to just keep it inside of me anymore. And I know you might not feel the same way, and I don't want to ruin everything between us, but I just wanted-"

She was suddenly interrupted by a pair of lips on hers. In the midst of her rambling, Austin had finally registered what she was telling him. She _liked_ him! She liked _him!_ And now he was kissing her. For a second, he couldn't really believe it himself. It was too good to be true. But then he felt her lips against his and he had an overwhelming urge to grin like a lovesick idiot (which he was).

Ally felt him smiling into the kiss and somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought that this should feel weird. After all, she was kissing her best friend. She was kissing her _best friend. _Letting that sink in for a second, Ally was suddenly very aware of one of Austin's hands gently holding her face while the other rested on her waist, pulling her closer to him. Maybe this was supposed to be weird, but all Ally could think was how right it felt. Their legs were tangled between them, her lungs were beginning to burn from running out of air and she swore her heart was pounding a mile a minute, but she found herself smiling against his lips too.

They finally pulled apart to catch their breaths, eyes half-lidded. A lazy grin appeared on Austin's lips, widening as his eyes met hers. She couldn't help a small blush from creeping onto her cheeks.

Silence hung between them, neither wanting to break the moment.

Austin was the first to speak. "Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

"Maybe," Ally replied, smiling shyly.

"Because if you had let me finish what I was going to say, I would've told you that this girl, the really great and amazing and special one, she's already heard the song. She was the first one to hear it. Actually," he amended quickly, the grin still on his face, "she helped me write it. She's helped me write a lot of songs, and I've only made it this far because this awesome girl was next to me this whole entire time. There's no way I could make it without her." He brushed his thumb across her cheek. "There's no way I could make it without you."

"Me?"

Austin laughed a bit, throwing his head back. "I thought you'd figure it out after listening to the song. You must be denser than I am."

"Hey!" she exclaimed in mock offense, but she was laughing too.

_"Whenever you're with this guy I can see something ain't right," _Austin said, speaking the lyrics. "Obviously, that's about you and Elliot. I was so jealous."

"You were?"

"Yeah. And the bridge too! _You and me forever. Never stopping, always rocking. _What other girl out there am I going to rock out with?"

"I guess I was really clueless," she said, biting her lip sheepishly.

Austin sighed, taking her hand in his. Ally felt her stomach flip when he locked their fingers together. "I was definitely way more clueless than you. At least you figured out your feelings earlier. I just realized this the other day! But I've probably liked you since the moment we met. Pretty dumb, right?"

The smile was back on Ally's face. "Well, now that we've figured all this out, we can make up for lost time right?"

Austin's grin matched Ally's "Definitely! What first? A walk on the beach? Dancing in the rain? Oh, I know! Let's take a road trip! I've always wanted to see the world's largest chocolate bar! And-"

This time Ally interrupted Austin with a kiss, a light one on the lips. That shut him up quickly, and that lovesick look was back on his face.

"Or we could do that," Austin said dreamily.

"Slow down there, rock star," she said, laughing at his expression. "How about we take a nap? I don't think either of us got any sleep last night, right?"

Suddenly reminded of his lack of sleep, a yawn escaped from Austin's throat. "What?" he started, "I'm not tired." He yawned again and Ally gave him a pointed look. He stared back sheepishly. "Okay, maybe I'm a little tired."

"I think we could both use a nap." Getting up from the piano bench, she pulled Austin out of his seat with their interlocked hands and led in over to the sofa in the back of the practice room. Taking a seat, Austin followed suit before Ally settled her head onto his broad chest. She could hear his heart beating steadily from under his T-shirt, and it began lulling her to sleep.

Right when she was about to drift off to dreamland, Austin's voice broke the silence. "Ally?"

"Hmm?" she answered quietly.

"This isn't some dream I'm going to wake up from, right?

She shifted her head so she was looking into his eyes. "I'll be right here when you wake up, I promise."

They smiled at each other one last time before settling into the sofa. In a few moments both of them were sleeping, the smiles still on their faces and their hands still joined between them.

* * *

A few hours later, Ally woke up, noticing Austin wasn't beside her anymore. She squinted at the sunlight coming through the window.

"Austin?" she called confusedly.

"Okay, so I know this sounds kind of crazy," he started out of the blue, "but we should definitely start our road trip in Texas!"

"What?" Ally rubbed her eyes so she could see clearly and saw that Austin had his laptop in front of him on the table with a crudely drawn map of the United States next to it. Ally wasn't too sure, but it looked like it was drawn in crayon.

"Just hear me out!" he said, not really explaining. "Where would be a better place to start a road trip than _Austin,_ Texas?"

She could feel his giddiness radiating from him, but she just raised an eyebrow. "Really? Austin?"

"See! It's perfect!" Her only response was a roll of her eyes, but there was a gleam in them. "Okay, okay, you can choose where we start," he conceded, but then he quickly added on, "as long as it isn't Dallas. Nope, there's no way we're visiting Dallas, Texas."

Ally turned away so he couldn't see her trying to fight the grin off her face. Composing herself, she turned back to him and as seriously as she could muster she said, "Really? Have a I ever mentioned that I'm a _huge_ Cowboys fan?"

All excitement was suddenly wiped from Austin's face. _"What?"_

"Yup," she replied nonchalantly. "I love the Cowboys and Tony Romo." She bit her lip so she wouldn't give away her smile.

"Psh," Austin started, his lips sticking out in a pout. "He's not that great."

"I don't know. He's pretty cute." She was biting her lip so hard no she was surprised it hadn't started bleeding.

"So you like football players, huh?" he asked, the jealousy in his voice obvious.

"Well," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck, "football players are okay, I guess, but I've always kind of had a thing for musicians."

"Oh really?" Austin replied, bringing his hands up to her waist. "Any instrument in particular?"

Ally shrugged, "I've never really thought about it."

Austin's expression brightened as he grinned down at her. "Well you're in luck because your boyfriend can play anything!"

"I must be really lucky."

"Me too." His tone was serious and it sent tingles up her spine. "You know, a few hours ago, I thought this would be impossible. You and me. It's like it's almost too good to be true."

"But here we are," she said beaming up at him.

"Yeah, and now I get to do this." He leaned down and pressed a kiss squarely on her lips, a floating feeling spreading through him. When they pulled apart, he leaned his forehead against hers. "I'll never get tired of doing that."

She made a noise of agreement, not quite ready to talk yet.

"So," he started in a quiet voice, "if we can't start in Austin, can we at least end there?" Ally stepped away from him, giving him a dry look. "Okay what about second? Second to last? Alright, third, but that's as far as-"

Tugging on the front of his T-shirt, Ally pulled him down for another kiss. Whether it was to shut him up or because she wanted to kiss him again, she couldn't say. Regardless, she was smiling against his lips again. (He was too.)

* * *

**AN: Hello, lovely readers! First, I want to apologize time infinity for updating a week late! I'm so sorry! Life just got in the way and even though I could've powered through last week and posted something, I know I wouldn't have been happy with it, so I decided to wait until I had time this weekend to update. I hope it was worth it! Second, this is the end of _Impossible._ It's been a great ride and I've loved writing for this so much! I can't believe I started this three months ago! Thanks to everyone that's been reading! I love you so much! Third, just kidding! This isn't quite the end! I do have an epilogue planned, so next week will be the real end! Come back and check it out! **

**Now that this is wrapping up, my other story that's been set on the back burner, _Roman Holiday,_ will be picking up! I'm so excited for that! It's an AU and I hope you guys like it as much as you liked this story! **

**I'd like to say a special thanks to ExtremeSaucicity for reading over this and helping me out! She's such an awesome person and an amazing writer so be sure to check out her stuff if you haven't already! **

**So were you guys satisfied with the ending? I really hope you were because I would hate to disappoint you guys. ****Thanks again, everyone!**

**I hope you enjoyed this! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


	10. Epilogues & Endings

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Austin & Ally._**

* * *

"Ally, we're talking a walk on the beach, not trekking through the Sahara Desert."

Austin wrinkled his nose as Ally dotted some sunscreen onto it.

"Better safe than sorry, right? I'd prefer not to resemble a steamed lobster on a date with my boyfriend."

His stomach did little flips as the word _boyfriend_ left Ally's lips. They'd been going out for more than a week now, and she'd called him that countless times already, but it all still felt new to him.

"You'd make a really cute lobster," Austin grinned, but Ally just gave him a dry look.

"Cute or not, I don't think getting sunburnt would feel all that great. Not to mention," she added, "I probably wouldn't want to be hugged if I had a sunburn."

Austin was suddenly very alert. "No hugs? We can't have that," he said with a serious voice, grabbing the bottle of sunscreen from her. He squirted a generous amount into his hands and began vigorously apply it to his arms and legs.

Ally laughed at his antics as she took the bottle back from him, applying some to her own limbs. She was just about finished when Austin's voice caught her attention.

"All done! Time to go to the beach!"

Looking up, Ally stifled a laugh as she took a glimpse of Austin's face. She snorted into her hand, hoping he wouldn't notice, but it was too late.

"What is it?" he asked, a confused expression washing over his face.

Ally bit her lip to keep from giggling. "Uh, I think you missed a spot."

"Really? Where?" Austin lifted his arms and carefully inspected them, twisting them around in awkward angles. Finding nothing, he moved on to check his legs.

A small laugh escaped from Ally's lips, and Austin lifted his head, a pout etched onto his features.

"What's so funny?"

"Here, let me take care of it."

Getting onto her tiptoes, Ally gently rubbed the excess sunscreen off his nose and used her fingers to distribute it along his face. She started at his forehead, pushing his messy bangs to the side so she wouldn't get sunscreen in his hair. Then she moved down to his temples, making sure to cover both sides evenly.

Austin watched her as her eyes crinkled in concentration, and couldn't help the smile from working its way onto his lips. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he mentally noted how cute she was when she was focused on something, like when she was in the middle of writing a song. She was working the sunscreen across his cheeks and over his nose again, careful not to get sunscreen in his eyes. She hadn't even noticed that they were trained on her.

She applied more sunscreen above his lip and then went on to cover his chin before moving on to his jaw. Her fingers slowed a bit, taking a moment to admire his sculpted jaw and the smooth skin over it. Austin must have noticed because he was starting to slowly close the distance between the two of them.

"You know," he started, his voice low, "we don't really need to take that walk on the beach, right?"

Ally nodded her head absentmindedly. She hadn't realized it, but she was beginning to lean in too. Her eyes followed the line of his jaw, tracing it with her fingers again. But when her gaze landed on his lips, she snapped back to reality.

"Oh! I almost forgot!"

Austin's half-lidded eyes shot open at her exclamation and he literally had to take a step back to keep from falling over.

Digging into the pocket of her shorts, Ally produced a tube of lip balm and lifted it to show Austin.

"Can't forget about our lips."

"What?" Austin asked, still trying to find his way out of his stupor.

"SPF for our lips. We don't want those to get sunburnt either."

Finally out of his daze, a wolfish grin settled onto Austin's face. "Because that means no kissing, right?"

Even without getting sunburnt, Ally suddenly resembled a lobster. She forced down the blush, but it was no use. "_What? _That's not what I meant! That's ridiculous. I mean-I just-it's not like-" She sighed, finally gave up on her stuttering and opened the tube of lip balm, applying some as Austin laughed at her silently.

"Here," she said once she was done, holding the tube up to him.

"I don't need it," he said with a sly smile.

"What? But what if your-"

Not letting her finish her sentence, Austin leaned down and pressed his lips against Ally's in a long kiss, pulling away before she could register what happened.

"I told you I wouldn't need it." She blinked a few times and watched blankly as Austin rubbed his lips together and made a smacking noise. "Yum. Pineapple."

The sly smile was still on his face, but this time it looked a little too smug for Ally's liking. Finally, she scoffed disbelievingly and shook her head before turning in the direction the door, a wry smile on her face.

Catching her hand in his, Austin caught up to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Ready?" he asked, smiling down at her.

Ally was about to answer yes when an idea occurred to her. "Almost." Reaching up on her tiptoes again, she pecked him on the lips before making a mad dash toward the beach. Over her shoulder she called, "That's for stealing a kiss!" still running as fast as she could.

Austin stood stunned for a second before regaining his senses, a wide grin spreading across his face before chasing after his girlfriend.

* * *

Austin was beginning to really hate the weatherman. Could anyone blame him? The man was just feeding him lies!

It usually rained in Miami regularly, but Florida must've been in its dry season because it hadn't rained in almost two weeks. Not that that was a bad thing. Usually the rain got in the way of Austin's plans, but this time, he really, _really_ needed it to rain. How else was he supposed to sing and dance in the rain with Ally?

The weatherman had predicted a 70% chance of rain that day, and all they got was an overcast sky. Austin proceeded to curse the television, receiving strange looks from his parents as they watched him yell at the screen.

This was ridiculous! He'd been waiting for a rainy day for weeks now and he was beginning to grow impatient.

"Calm down. It's bound to rain any day now," Dez said. He was on Austin's laptop playing a video game, while Austin sat dejectedly in his bed.

"Yeah, but I don't want to wait! I've been planning this for weeks! Ally and I would go for a walk in the park, then it'd start to rain, but we wouldn't have an umbrella, so we'd get all wet and then we'd play in the downpour. See?"

Dez quirked an eyebrow from his spot at Austin's desk, his eyes not leaving the monitor. "Wasn't that a scene from that movie we watched a few weeks ago?"

Austin scoffed guiltily. "_Pfft. _No. They weren't going for a walk." Quietly, he muttered, "They were on a picnic." Finally turning away from the laptop, Dez shot him a look. "But that's not the point!" Austin exclaimed. "The point is, it just won't rain!"

Dez shrugged his shoulders. "Then improvise."

"Improvise?" Austin asked skeptically.

"Sure. You don't _have _to be in the rain." The pair sat in silence for a moment when, suddenly, Dez shot up from the desk chair he had been occupying. "I've got an idea!"

* * *

"Austin, what's all this about? I thought you wanted to go to the park."

Ally looked up to give Austin a confused look. She had come over to his house, expecting to go for a walk in the park and was slightly caught off guard when he pulled her in through the door so they could step out to his backyard.

"I know, but I thought we could just hang out back here. It's a beautiful day and everything. And it'll just be you and me."

"Alright, I'm up for anything," she said, smiling up at him. "But is there a reason you didn't want to go to the park?"

Austin tried to keep the grin off his face, not wanting to spoil the surprise. "It was missing something."

"Really?" she asked, the puzzled look on her face again. "What?"

Before he could answer, a jet of cold water caught the both of them off guard. A shriek escaped from Ally's lips, goose bumps appearing along her bare arms. Austin's hair was matted against his forehead and they were both soaked.

"I told you to set it to mist, you doof!" Trish called up to Dez.

The latter of the pair was perched on Austin's roof, garden hose in hand.

"The nozzle's stuck!" Dez struggled with the hose, still getting Austin and Ally wet in the process.

"Dez!" Austin shouted, trying to avoid the stream of water. "You said this was a good idea!"

Finally, Trish had gone to turn the water off, but Austin and Ally were both soaked to the bone.

"You took advice from Dez again?" Ally asked, keeping her voice level.

Austin shrugged sheepishly, water dripping from his clothes and hair. "Surprise?"

"Yup," she nodded, "definitely surprised."

"I'm so sorry, Ally! I was planning on singing and dancing in the rain, like I wrote in our song! But it hasn't rained in weeks, so Dez came up with this idea and-"

"I think I know where this is going," she interrupted, wringing the water out of her hair. "But," she started again, "I appreciate the gesture. Even if I inhaled some water." She gave him another smile, and reached up to give him a hug.

When the pulled away, they were joined by Trish and Dez.

"Austin, I'm so sorry! I swear that wasn't supposed to happen," Dez said.

"Yeah, we kind of figured," Austin said sarcastically. "It's okay. We should get inside and dry off though."

"Man," Dez sighed, "I had this all planned out! Now what am I going to do with these?" From behind his back, Dez pulled two water guns. "These were supposed to be the downpour."

"You know," Trish started, "I think I've got a few ideas."

Before Dez could notice, Trish swiped the water guns from his hands, handing one to Ally before shooting water at him.

Ally followed suit, laughing as she and Trish aimed their water guns at the boys.

Not one to be outdone, Austin ran and grabbed the garden hose, coming back to drench the girls from head to toe.

They didn't stop until half an hour later, girls against boys, and everyone sopping wet and cold and laughing.

"Not quite singing and dancing in the rain, huh?"

Austin had a towel around his shoulders, now in dry clothes, but his hair was still damp. Trish and Dez had headed home now, but Ally was wrapped up in one of Austin's sweatshirts, her hair also wrapped in a towel.

"No," she said, unwrapping her hair and combing her fingers through it. There was a wide grin on her face. "But it was a lot of fun."

"Yeah, but I still think it was missing something."

"What's that?"

Instead of answering, he brought a hand up to rest on Ally's cheek and leaned down to give her a kiss, letting his lips linger before pulling away. Ally's eyes stayed closed for a long moment. When they fluttered open, she met Austin's soft gaze.

"You know," he finally said, "our big _Notebook_ moment."

Ally laughed a bit. "You mean a big kiss in the rain?"

"Yup."

"I don't know," she said, a gleam in her eye. "Kissing the enemy? That probably wouldn't be a very good idea."

"We'd have to keep it a secret then," Austin said playfully. "We can have one of those forbidden loves. Like in _Romeo and Juliet_."

Ally snorted, not able to help herself. "_The Notebook_ and _Romeo and Juliet?_ I hate to break it to you, Austin, but we aren't living in a romance novel."

"We can try," he said cheerfully. But, quickly, he added, "Except we don't die in the end. Nope," he shook his head, "we only get to have happy endings."

Ally smiled up at him. "Okay then," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "So, what part of the book are we at now?"

"The part where the super cool and good-looking guy kisses his amazingly talented and beautiful girlfriend."

"Who is also his enemy and has to keep secret because-"

He pulled her in for another kiss.

* * *

"Austin, we've been on the road for two days straight and we haven't had a real meal since! You really want to load up on chocolate bars?"

"But Ally, it's the world _largest_ chocolate bar! We have to get souvenirs!"

Ally shot her boyfriend a dry look. They'd been dating for two years now and he still managed to act like he was five years old sometimes.

"Can't we just take a picture with it? We don't need a million bars of chocolate," she said with a sigh. "What we _need_ is real food. We're only a week into our road trip."

"Exactly!" Austin conceded. "We're only a week in! So we can get real food later!"

Without waiting for her to answer back, he turned back to the seemingly endless candy shop to scavenge for more treats.

Ally suppressed the immense urge to groan out loud and shifted her weight onto her other leg, arms crossed and her head shaking slightly.

"Your boyfriend going a little crazy too?"

A voice caught Ally's attention suddenly and she turned to meet the bemused gaze of a pretty blonde girl. Making sure for a moment that she was speaking to her, Ally nodded in agreement.

"He's insisting that we get every flavor chocolate bar."

The blonde girl gave Ally a sympathetic look. "Mine has been at it for almost two hours."

Ally shook her head again. "Boys."

The blonde nodded in agreement, about to say something else when someone interrupted her.

"Charlotte! They have peanut brittle too! I know it's your favorite!"

A brunette guy came running up to the two girls, a can of peanut brittle in one hand and a shopping basket with a dozen different sweets in the other.

She didn't notice at first, but after a moment, to Ally's utter bewilderment, she recognized him.

_"Elliot?"_

The guy looked up at the sound of his name and turned in Ally's direction, meeting her wide eyes

"Ally?" he replied, a smile working its way onto his lips. "Hey! I haven't seen you since, like, two years ago!" He proceeded to move forward to give her a hug, and after getting over her shock, she hugged him back.

"Hi! It's great to see you again!" Pulling away, she then gave him a confused look. "What are you doing here?"

"I go to college around here," he replied. Reaching behind him, he looped an arm around the blonde girl's shoulder. "This is my girlfriend, Charlotte."  
"We've already met," Ally said, but she turned to face her again. "I'm Ally. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Charlotte replied with a smile.

"So what were you two talking about?" Elliot asked, directing the question to the two girls.

"Oh, nothing really," Charlotte started in a dry voice. "Just talking about our immature boyfriends."

The girls laughed at Elliot's pouting face. Eventually, he began to laugh along with them, when he noticed something. "Boyfriends?" he asked Ally. "Wait. Does that mean you're here with-"

"Ally! Check this out! They have_ pancake_-flavored jellybeans! Look-" Austin stopped short when he saw that Ally had company.

"Elliot?"

"Hey, Austin. It's nice to see you again."

"Ally," Austin started, turning to face his girlfriend, "what is he-"

"Elliot goes to college around here," she answered before he finished his question. "And this is his girlfriend, Charlotte." She turned to face Charlotte again, "This is my boyfriend-"

This time, Ally was interrupted. "Oh, my _God._ You're Austin Moon!"

Austin grinned. It was always great to meet a fan. "Yup. That's me."

"I love your music! Every single song on your last album was amazing!"

"Well, I can't take all the credit. That was mostly Ally," he said, wrapping her hand in his.

Charlotte looked beside her at Elliot. "You didn't tell me you were friends with Austin Moon."

Elliot brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I guess you can't really say we're _friends_."

"Yeah, especially since he told me to pull myself together and finally tell Ally about how I felt about her. Oh. And he called me an idiot."

Austin grinned at the memory, and when he looked toward Elliot, he saw that he was too.

"No hard feelings?"

"Nah. And everything worked out in the end."

Next to Elliot, Charlotte piped up again. "This is so _cool!_ I can't believe I got to meet you!"

Ally snorted. "Don't flatter him too much. His ego's big enough as it is."

"Hey!" Austin protested indignantly.

"Besides," Ally said, ignoring him, "he's still that guy that was going crazy over the world's largest chocolate bar and all of this candy a few minutes ago."

"Because it's _awesome!_" Elliot said.

"See?" Austin said, nodding towards Elliot. "He thinks it's cool too!"

The pair high-fived each other, and Ally fought the urge to roll her eyes. From the corner of her vision, she could see Charlotte doing the same.

"Have you seen the rainbow cotton candy yet?" Elliot asked Austin excitedly.

"No way! They have that here?"

The two boys wondered back into the vast candy store, animatedly chatting between the two of them and leaving Ally and Charlotte alone again.

"See?" Ally said, shaking her head. "Boys."

"But we love them, right?"

The two girls giggled as they watched as their boyfriends excitedly spin cotton candy like little kids.

"Yeah, I think we'll keep them."

* * *

"Home at last!"

Austin dropped all of his luggage onto the ground and unceremoniously collapsed into bed, face-planting into the mattress.

Ally leaned against the doorframe of their bedroom, watching with an amused smile as Austin wriggled his legs over the side of the bed.

"We haven't even been gone for that long."

"A month." His reply was muffled because his face was still in the sheets. "A month of living on a tour bus." He turned his face so he could face her. "I missed our bed."

"The beds on the bus weren't that bad," she said, making her way to the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, but they were really small, so we couldn't sleep next to each other."

Ally snorted. "That didn't stop you from trying to crawl into my bunk."

He grinned slyly at her. "Even you have to admit that was fun."

"Trying to sleep in a tiny tour bus bed next to my rather huge husband? Yeah, sure," she said sarcastically. "Tons of fun."

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm on the tall side," he argued, flipping onto his back. "And you're so tiny! You barely took up any room on that bunk."

"That doesn't mean I wanted to be squashed between the wall and your body while I was sleeping."

"I don't know," he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "I think you liked it. And you never kicked me out of your bed."

Ally tried to fight the blush rising to her cheeks, but they still tinged pink. "I don't know what you're talking about."

A sly grin was on his face. "Sure you don't," he drawled sarcastically. He let out a sigh then. "Now that I think about it, I'm going to miss those beds. Now I don't have a valid excuse to be in your personal space when we're sleeping."

"That's never stopped you before, either."

"You're right," he said, the sly grin still on his face. Before she realized what was happening, Austin reached up and grabbed her hand, pulling her back onto the bed. Ally let out a small yelp in surprise, and suddenly found herself trapped with Austin's arms firmly secured around her waist.

"Austin, what are you doing?"

"Going to bed," he replied, his eyes closed.

"It's three in the afternoon."

He shushed her, and settled his head into the pillow, his cheek resting by the top of her head. He could smell Ally's shampoo and he pulled her even closer to him, removing any space that was between them.

Instead of trying to fall asleep, Ally watched Austin. There was a small smile on his face, and she could feel the rise and fall of his chest against hers as he breathed deeply. She could hear him quietly humming one of their songs under his breath. When the humming stopped and his breathing became even, she thought he had drifted off to sleep, so she was a bit surprised when she heard his voice.

"Remember when we finally told each other about out feelings?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she replied, her voice quiet too.

"Remember how we ended up taking a nap in the practice room afterwards?"

"Yeah." Ally smiled at the memory. "We were just kids back then."

"I know. But even if we were just kids, I knew I wanted to be with you. That you were the one for me."

"Really?"

"Mhmm," he replied, nodding slightly. "I asked you if this was just some dream I was going to wake up from."

"And I said I'd be right next to you when you woke up."

"Yeah. But you know, this kind of is a dream." He finally opened his eyes and met her gaze. "It has to be a dream because I have everything I could ever want."

"Trust me. This is way better than a dream. It's all real."

"I know. And that's the best part." He smiled down at her. "Thanks for always being next to me when I wake up."

Ally's own smile mirrored his. Reaching a hand up, she brushed his hair away from his face before resting it against his cheek. She closed the small distance between them and pressed her lips against his.

Austin wrapped his arms even tighter around her waist and that fuzzy, floating feeling was coursing through him again, just like whenever he kissed Ally. When they pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

**AN: Hello, readers! **

**I know. I haven't updated in forever. I know. I promised I would update a week after the last chapter. I know. I know. _I know_. I'm really, awfully sorry that I made you wait this long. Trust me, I wasn't planning on updating this so late, but, like I'm sure many of you have experienced before, life gets in the way. And in my case, life decided to kick my ass and totally make me miserable for the past few weeks. ****So, again, I'm super sorry I updated so late. **

**Also, to the people who left reviews reminding me that I hadn't updated in a while: I promise I'm very aware when I'm not updating, and the guilt honestly eats me up inside (like, a _lot_), but I'd much rather post something of quality that I'm proud of over something rushed and unsatisfactory (at least in my eyes, anyway). I'm sorry I made a promise saying I'd update a week later, but, again, life is unexpected, and kind of bites you in the butt sometimes.**

** Please realize that fanfic isn't my first priority (not matter how much I want it to be). This is something I do for fun and enjoyment, and there came a point in the past few weeks where writing suddenly wasn't fun anymore. It felt more like an obligation, and I never want that to happen. And I thought it'd be best if I just focused on my priorities first. So please forgive my hiatus. **

**But let's move on from that, shall we? It's finally over! ****I hope this is something that you guys like because I'd hate to disappoint you. **Thank you to all you lovely readers! I loved writing this, and I'm so glad so many of you liked it! I know, there were some rough patches, but I worked very hard on this, and I appreciate all the feedback I received. Thank you so, so, so much! You guys are amazing! 

**And special thanks, again, to ExtremeSaucicity for giving me some inspiration for this chapter and just being an all-around great and supportive person!**

**I hope you enjoyed this! Reviews are welcome and appreciated!**

**xoxo Cherie**


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